Copycat
by AliceRed1878
Summary: For Nozomi Noguchi, there is no escape from her three half sisters or stop what they're planning. It seems that there isn't anyway she can stop them in time. What's more...who would believe her? From the start, Nozomi was born with the worst luck of the draw. She started to believe that there wasn't anything she can do.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

Nozomi Noguchi lived in an average house on an average street. There was nothing extraordinary about the outside. The house she shared with her three half-sisters had all the appearance of a home somewhere in Japan. The only thing that made it odd was its size. Considering that there were four people currently residing inside it, three of whom were adults and one teenager, its size was easily excused. From the outside, nobody saw the things that went on.

An alarm clock woke her up at six in the morning. She dressed. Black tights, black socks, a long-sleeved black shirt all under her school uniform. Black gloves finished the look. She didn't bother to look in the mirror to check her hair or anything. Nozomi hated her reflection. By the time she climbed down from the attic she slept in, breakfast was already getting made. One of her sisters, Uji, the third youngest of her elder sisters, slouched at the kitchen table. Her eyes were red and blurry from a night of midnight drinking and computer programming. Her other sister, Oiwa, wasn't anywhere in sight. She'd either be at work already or sleeping in. Which left the eldest of the Noguchi sisters at the stove.

Trepidation made Nozomi's stomach churn. She saw a lunch box with her name on it. Kiyohime was focused on frying up some eggs and was thus too busy to be bothered to look at her. A gift in and of itself.

"Sit. Have some breakfast."

"That's alright. I-I can grab something on the way to school."

"Sit down and eat, brat. Don't be ungrateful," Uji said loudly.

Nozomi grabbed a plate against her better judgement. Kiyohime stood in front of the stove with a doctor's mask covering her mouth. Nozomi ate with her head down trying to avoid eye contact with Uji. She wasn't a morning person. Knowing Kiyohime would be upset if she didn't wash her own dish, Nozomi rolled up her sleeves and washed her plate and utensils. She tried to leave the lunch box behind. She had just barely reached the door with her shoes on when a hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back inside. Kiyohime pulled down the mask down and then lifted the lunch box directly into Nozomi's face.

"You almost forgot this, _little sister_. I didn't want you to go hungry while you were at school. You wouldn't want your teachers to think we don't feed you, right, Nozomi?"

"Y-yeah." Nozomi reluctantly took the lunch box from her sister.

"Have a good day at school!" Kiyohime called from the porch.

Dread followed her all the way to school. But at least she was out of the house. Her route to school passed by the UA campus. Nozomi could only dream of getting near those gates. As for now, she settled for watching the UA students file in. She could only admire from afar and pray that none of her sisters found the UA brochure. Nozomi stood for a moment to watch the future heroes make their way in through the high walls surrounding the campus. It was hard to see from across the street, but most of them looked happy. They were living their best lives and had a future ahead of them.

_But what do you have?_

Nozomi shook her head. The thought slipped away from her. She returned to her usual route to school. Her classmates were UA rejects or those who were happy just having ordinary quirks or none at all. She settled into the back of the classroom. She was the weird kid who didn't talk to anyone and had no friends. No one would have bothered to ask if she was alright.

* * *

Nozomi opened her lunch. There was nothing out of the ordinary besides the fact that Kiyohime made it. That in and of itself was strange. None of her sisters were particularly generous with her unless it benefited them somehow. Her eldest sister, Kiyohime, was especially stingy in this regard. She made no effort to being kind to anyone unless it suited her. Her other sisters she got along with fine, but she despised Nozomi. Not a day went by that she reminded the youngest that she was only there because their father wanted it. The man had been in jail since Nozomi was six months old, yet somehow Kiyohime and the others made it seem like it was her fault. Kiyohime's generous offer to make her lunch was unprecedented and alarming.

Nozomi stared at her lunch for second, wondering if it had been poisoned. Her stomach growled in complaint. She ate it just to keep her belly quiet. If she didn't eat, she would draw attention to herself. Uji once beat her because they'd come dangerously close to being discovered all because Nozomi confessed to a teacher that she hadn't been eating properly. She took a risk eating food prepared by Nozomi but didn't have much else choice. A double-edged sword before her: to eat or not to eat. She envied her classmates who didn't have to make such a decision. Nozomi picked up her chopsticks and ate.

Nozomi stumbled on the way to the nurse's office. She regretted eating after all. Each step was like walking with a hundred pounds tied to her ankles. Sweat beaded down her face. Her stomach grumbled and lurched and sour bile rose in her throat. Somehow, she managed to pick herself up again and drag herself to the nurse's office.

She ripped open the door. Panting for breath, Nozomi leaned against the door frame. The nurse, who had been busy with another student, turned to find her red-faced and on the verge of collapsing.

"Nozomi-chan, wha—"

Nozomi didn't get the chance to hear the rest of it. Her eyes fluttered shut. The last thing she remembered was seeing the nurse's shocked, pale face staring back at her.

* * *

When she opened her eyes again, her head throbbed. Nozomi looked about her surroundings. Rather than a sterile nurse's office and lying in a cot, she was back in her room, snuggly wrapped in her own bedsheets. She tried to wriggle free by the bedding was wrapped so tightly around her that she was effectively a mummy in a coffin. Her head continued to throb. The covers were too much as she was sweating through her clothes and unto the sheets. Her pillow beneath was damp as well.

In and out, she faded. She couldn't see her alarm clock because her eyes were so blurry. Her body was too weak to even lift her head very far from her pillow. Everything below her eyebrows hurt. Nozomi eventually caved in and let her body sink in and out of slumber.

By the fifth time she woke up, orange light was seeping through her window. Evening. The door to her room opened. Kiyohime walked in but she carried something behind her back. Nozomi's heart fluttered in its cage like a frightened bird.

_Is this how I die?_

"You gave your teachers quite the scare, Nozomi. You've been sick a lot lately, haven't you?" And Kiyohime would know the cause of that.

Nozomi wisely kept her snarky comments to herself.

"Of course, things would be a lot easier for you…if you'd just settle down and do as we say." Kiyohime crossed the room. She pulled out the thing she'd been hiding behind her back.

Nozomi felt a sharp slap across her face as her sister smacked her with a pamphlet.

"Did you honestly think that you were good at hiding this?" Kiyohime hissed.

She shoved the brochure in Nozomi's face. It was a pamphlet from UA.

"I found _this _in your desk drawer the other day. Did you think you were going to get a transfer into the school? Did you think you were actually good enough?" Kiyohime smacked her again with the pamphlet.

She swore as she tore the pamphlet into bite-sized pieces. The shredded remains were then tossed into the trash bin. Kiyohime sat on the edge of the bed closest to Nozomi. She leaned her head over with her hands on either side of Nozomi's head. Her mask was pulled away from her face so that her half-sister could get a good look at sneering lips.

"Sneak around like that again and I'll give you something worse than the swine flu. If I catch you trying to do something stupid, I swear I'll give you the black death and lock you in the basement where you can die alone. Do I make myself clear, _little sister_?"

"Y-yes," Nozomi wheezed.

"Good," Kiyohime tightened the sheets even more as if preparing Nozomi to be carted off to the grave. "Behave from now on and I won't make you suffer like this. You should be happy. Most kids your age give anything to be out of school."

Kiyohime shut off the lights before she left. She left Nozomi to convalesce in the dark. Had she even the appetite to eat, Nozomi was too wrapped up in her bedsheets to be able to get out on her own.

With sisters like these, who needed enemies?


	2. Chapter 1

Warning: This series contains graphic material not suitable for younger readers and those sensitive to the subjects at hand. Story will depict domestic abuse (physical and psychological) of a minor, mental illness, self-harm, body horror, and torture.

This chapter contains: body horror (human decomposition), mentions self-harm and suicidal ideation.

Readers, you have been warned.

* * *

_In the dead of night, hours before sunrise, a decimated building lies crumbled in a heap of concrete and steel. The area is fenced off by metal bars, orange cones, and police tape. Not that the three masked individuals scurrying up to it seemed all that bothered by them. In the full moonlight, their masks held an eerie glow A demon, a ghost, and a plague doctor ran towards the building half-crumbled in on itself. One dragged along a heavy suitcase. Concrete stone was cold to the touch. Police left hours ago and left the zone dark and empty. Only the flapping of police tape strung up to discourage urban explorers and villain fanatics seemed present. The surrounding area stood deathly silent. _

_Upon approach, the one in red and wore a demon's mask dropped to her knees and pried open the suitcase. Inside was a computer blinking into life. Buttons and lights flashed. With a few clicks, she opened a screen of the buildings now useless schematics. _

"_She was here when that fiery bastard accidentally blew up the building." She pointed with finger cased in red leather. The white dot on the map indicated that whoever they were looking for was last seen in a stairwell on the third floor. _

"_Have you found out where that stairwell is now?" Asked the one who wore the plague mask. _

_The woman in the demon mask pressed a few more buttons and opened a new screen. The other two gathered behind her to watch a computer simulation of the destruction. On the screen, a 3-D model of a woman was pictured in a building similar in construction to the ruins they looked at now. Another press of the button and they watched the building collapse. _

"_Judging by my calculations, she should be there, under the rubble," the demon-masked woman pointed towards the far corner of the building that sank into the ground. _

_From ground level, anyone could see the roof and almost touch it. One corner of building was nothing but rubble and bent steel. _

"_Stay here and keep a look-out," said the plague doctor. _

"_Why me?" _

"_Because you're the only one with a decent offensive quirk," spoke the woman in the blue ghost mask. _

_Black and blue flashed underneath the moonlight as they scrambled towards the debris. They crawled in a gap in the concrete and crammed themselves inside. The woman in red waited twenty minutes. Behind her mask, her eyes were fixed on the screen. Pulling open a tab, she watched the scene play out in real time. Not a mere computer simulation. _

'_I'm here on the scene where the hero Endeavor has cornered the villain group known as the Four Horsemen into…'_

**BOOOOM! BOOOM BOOM!**

_Her hands tightened into fists. Explosions rang from fourth floor. Her ears were still ringing from that flame-for-brains tactics. He was supposed to the be hero, and yet, he was caught on camera causing wanton destruction. The camera man and anchorwoman dove for cover as debris came flying around the streets below. Panicked crowds who came to watch like a pay-per-view boxing match scrambled for safety. Fire, smoke, and debris shot outwards in Endeavor's attempt to catch them. _

**FWOOOM! FWOOM, BOOM!**

_She watched in horror and loathing as the building began to sag. Smoke and gray dust choked the air. Her stomach churned. She remembered chocking on that smoke. Endeavor wasn't concerned about turning them in. No. All he wanted was the fame of capturing four villains in one day, dead or alive. He chose dead. He showed no concern about the people below watching and waiting. His choice was for notoriety rather than justice. _

_She might have forgiven him if he was bent on _doing the right thing_. Barf! At least then she could respect him even a little. Heroes like him, heroes that put fame and fortune and renown above the safety of others, including the villains that chased after, were worse than villains themselves. She could at least say that she never caused wanton, chaotic destruction for its own sake. Her eyes were glued to the computer screen, watching the scene unfold. Cameras were unable to capture their escape. Three of them somehow made it out alive. _

_Ten minutes into the video and Endeavor appeared on the screen at long last. His suit was still aflame. The crowds tried to gather around him, but he pushed them away. _**BOOM! **_The building behind him crashed to the ground. _

'_Endeavor, Endeavor! Can you tell us where the villains are? Are they still trapped in the building?' The anchorwoman was a very brave person to ask such a thing. _

_Endeavor turned to face the camera. He didn't look proud, but neither was he sorry. He gave a half-truth, that he didn't mean to knock down the building. He was certain they escaped, though he had no proof of that. Should the police find bodies, Endeavor would be in a world of hurt and bad PR. Hero or no, he knocked down a building and possibly killed people. _

_Well. He did. He did manage to kill at least one person that day. _

"_What are you doing? You're supposed to look-out!" The woman in the plague doctor's mask returned. _

_The demon-masked villain closed most of the tabs she pulled open. "I would dare somebody try and sneak up behind me." _

"_I asked you to do _one_ thing. One simple thing and you can't even do that much!" She hissed. _

"_I'm the one who figured out where her body could be. I did my part. I don't see you in there crawling through a half-collapsed apartment complex, big sis. Where's Oiwa, huh?" _

"_She's the only one small enough to crawl through that mess. We saw what was left Yurei's body trapped beneath some steel beams. She's got the laser with her." _

"_How…how bad does she look?" _

"_She didn't suffer long if that's what you're asking. A steel beam crushed her abdomen, nearly split her in two. My guess it took ten minutes or less for her to die." _

"_Ten minutes. Ten minutes to die. She spent all that time alone and in pain and he's just going to get away with it!" _

"_Calm down, Uji. Your temper isn't going to fix any of this. Let's just get her body out from the rubble." _

"_Why can't we just leave her there for the police to find? Then, people are going to know what kind of a cold-hearted bastard that Endeavor really is. Give him the worst PR nightmare he's ever had!" _

"_Because that's not good enough. He's a hero. Not the best or the most popular, but he's still a hero. He's done more good than bad, unfortunately. Despite this, we can't touch him. Yet." _

_The woman in blue and wearing the ghost mask ran up to them. Her clothes were covered in soot and blood. She moved her mask part of the way to breathe hard. _

"_I've got her. I put her on the side. And, I've got her scythes."_

"_Can they be mended?" Asked the plague doctor._

"_I think so, but it might take a little bribery from her favorite blade smith. Especially if Endeavor believes she dead," said Oiwa._

"_I'll go get the body bag. You two, start packing up." _

_Uji slammed shut the suit case, clicking all the locks into place. She followed her sister Oiwa to where their sister, Yurei lay. Uji just about vomited inside her mask. What was left of their sister was a white mangled corpse. Dried blood stained her clothes, turning gray into deep violet as the blood coagulated. The skull mask, which somehow remained attached to her face, was partially shattered. Pieces of it were smashed into her face and lodged there. The right side of her face was exposed and revealed parts of her black hair. Her deep amber eye stared blankly upward. Her torso was completely sunken in. By the moonlight, they could see the impression heavy steel garters left in her twisted bones. Flesh was removed from her stomach from where they had to remove the beams. Uji smelled the tang of acid. Beside the corpse, was a scythe. Once upon a time, Uji envied her older sister for such a beautifully crafted weapon. A sleek steel rod topped with the most dead and gorgeous blade meant to tear limb from limb and rip open guts. Now, the masterpiece lay in a heap, broken, bent, and the blade chipped all along the blade. The face used to be so shiny-smooth one could use it as a mirror. Unfortunately, the user saw something more than a distorted picture looking at them with scratches and nicks over the surface. _

_The eldest of the four—now three—came back with a body bag. Uji helped carry the mid-section while the other two grabbed for the shoulders and feet respectively. Yurei's intestines started slipping out as they putrefied. It had been two days since Endeavor nearly called all four of them. Unfortunately for him, he made a grave mistake. Uji gagged as she hurriedly stuffed the organs back in. They placed the husk of Yurei into the body bag. Once more, two grabbed for the feet and another went for the shoulders. In the dead of night on an empty street, they were completely alone and unbothered as they ferried Yurei from the demolition site to the black van parked outside the police tape. Into the van she went for her final journey. The eldest, the one in the plague doctor mask, climbed into the driver's seat and removed her mask. Uji climbed into the passenger seat and removed her mask as well. Oiwa got into the back with the body after she collected what was left of Yurei's scythe. She carried the damaged weapon in a black bundle close to her chest, regardless of the sharp points. _

"_Is that everything?" _

"_I think it is, Kiyohime," answered Uji. _

_Oiwa certainly wasn't in the mood for talking. She had been closest to Yurei. She had been quiet, more so than usual, as they packed Yurei's body into the bag. She sat silently in the back, cradling the weapon like a teddy bear. _

"_Let's roll out." _

_Kiyohime drove into the inner city and parked inside a four-story garage. Next to the morgue. She disappeared for almost half an hour before returning with a wheeled cart. They loaded Yurei's body bag unto the cart and shuffled her along. Attached to the morgue was a crematorium, where all the forgotten and unwanted were burned up. Uji disarmed all the security systems and made sure that the cameras were pointed in another direction. Kiyohime used her security pass to get inside, that same log in information would _mysteriously_ disappear by morning. _

_Shortly, they shuffled the cart into the crematorium proper. Uji and Kiyohime load the body onto the belt after Oiwa arranged the box which would be cremated with the body. In with the body, Oiwa tucked small bouquet of pink carnations. Kiyohime pressed a few buttons to send the belt into the machine. It wasn't long after the metal door shut when they heard the billows of flames rising in the machine. _

"_How long does it take for a body to burn up?" Asked Uji._

"_About one to three hours. We should be done here before anyone suspects our presence," said Kiyohime. _

"_I want to kill him." _

"_Me too. I want to see him suffer," Oiwa hissed. _

"_You're not the only ones. For now, we plan. Then, we make sure he suffers the same way we have suffered. We'll take something most precious to him and destroy it before his eyes. Once he's broken, we'll destroy what's left of him."_

* * *

**Two Years Later**

"Nozomi! Wakey, wakey, sloth!"

Nozomi woke up to her face and head being assaulted by a stiff pillow. Her hair flew over her face as one of her sisters hit her until she stirred. She rolled over unto her back and rubbed her eye. Uji, the third eldest sister, was a giant in her room. She was the youngest of Nozomi's older half-sisters, but she was the tallest. And most destructive.

"Come on, already! Breakfast is on the table and you're going to be late if you don't hurry." Uji thwacked her again, hitting her in the face.

"I'm up, I'm up." Nozomi yawned.

Nozomi could barely move. It was like cement blocks were tied to all her limbs. It was like moving with a heavy anchor attached to her waist. Move she did because she had no other choice. Uji left her weapon on the floor for Nozomi to pick up herself. She brushed her hair in the vanity mirror and applied concealer to the baggy under-eye area and added blush so she wouldn't look so dead inside. There was little she could do otherwise. She dressed in her usual fashion, covering herself from head to toe. She paused a moment to look at the scars on her wrist. Some were older than others. Without another thought, she shoved the long black sleeves down over her wrists and proceeded to put on her school uniform on top. Socks and gloves finished the look and her hair was tied into a ponytail.

She found all three of her half-sisters in the dining room connected to the kitchen. Oiwa was nodding off with her coffee cup still in her hand while Uji feasted on some scrambled eggs and bacon, not nearly hungover as earlier this week. Nozomi paused realizing who would be cooking breakfast again. She saw a lunch box with her name on it sitting on the counter.

"Don't worry," said Kiyohime as if she read her mind, "I didn't poison it again. You've been absent too many times this month. I'd hate to have you fall too far behind in your studies."

Nozomi heard the others laugh at her, including Oiwa. She grabbed a plate but ate very little. Her appetite just wasn't there. What she left behind, Uji gladly scarfed up. Nozomi started to put on her shoes to head out the door, lunch box in hand, when Kiyohime stood at the top of the stairs.

"And one more thing, Nozomi," said she.

"Y-yes," answered Nozomi.

"When you get off school today, I want you to spend some time out before you come home. My sisters and I are planning something this afternoon and we don't want you near the house. You'll find that I made a hefty contribution to your debit card. Spend it however you want just as long as I don't see your face until after seven this evening."

"Y-yes, ma'am…" Nozomi turned to run out the door but Kiyohime stopped her again.

"One more thing, little sister," she lowered her face mask to show off her too white teeth, "Don't forget to smile."

Nozomi reluctantly smiled. Forced as it was, it satisfied her older sister. She shut the door softly behind her and started the journey to school.

* * *

Nozomi sequestered herself in a small corner of the restaurant away from prying eyes. She had her latest haul piled on the table while she waited for her food, even though she wasn't hungry. The thought of food disgusted her, but she was growing weak in the knees from not eating. She would have to force feed herself in order to stand on her legs. Nozomi skimmed over some of her new titles she hauled from the bookstore, and she had yet made a dent in her allowance. Kiyohime wasn't kidding when she said she made a hefty contribution. It must have been something truly sinister her sisters were planning if they kept her out of the house.

A noisy group of UA students stumbled into the restaurant and requested the largest table they had. The waitresses' eyes practically lit up with dollar signs in their eyes. Wait staff scrambled to conjoin a couple of tables together quickly to seat everyone. Nozomi grabbed one of her books to hide behind so no one would notice her staring at them, the UA students.

Her stomach plummeted. Even when her food came around, she found herself unable to eat. Nozomi tried to nibble at her fries only to find that she couldn't hold anything at all. She kept her eyes down at her book even though it was pointless trying to pretend to read. They were loud and laughed a little too much and enjoyed their lives with a little too much enthusiasm. Nozomi tugged at her sleeves hiding the scars on her wrists. She wanted to hate them; it was her first instinct after all. Yet, she wanted to be one of them too.

Nozomi's stomach growled. Despite her lack of appetite, she forced herself to eat everything on her plate to quiet her stomach.

_ That could be you, you know? _

A familiar voice chimed in her skull.

"Go away," Nozomi hissed under breath.

Luckily, her waitress wasn't around to hear her and make things awkward. Nozomi cursed to herself. She must have forgotten to take her medication last night. Her sisters weren't going to be happy about it.

_The only thing keeping you from enjoying your life is this pesky thing you call _fear. _Should I have my way, you would never have to worry about it. You need to make friends, maybe then someone will be able to help you get away from _them_. _

Nozomi covered her ears as if that would stop the voice inside her head. She screwed her eyes tight. She didn't hear the footsteps approaching her table.

"Um, excuse me, are you okay?"

Nozomi opened her eyes. There was a boy and he…was talking to her.

_Say something, silly!_

She unburied her head from her arms. _Don't forget to smile! _Kiyohime's voice taunted her. Nozomi forced a smile on her face, but she was certain it only made matters worse. The boy, around her age, made a face. His brows furrowed like he was confused or concerned.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking," she answered.

Her guts churned. She hated lying. It left a sour taste in her mouth. She turned away from the boy to stop herself from projectile word-vomit.

"Well, alright then." Mercifully, he gave up.

Nozomi gathered her things while he made his way to the bathroom. She quickly paid for her meal and sprinted outside. With her bundle of newly purchased books, she started making the long journey open. Unfortunately, it didn't take long before her arms started to hurt again. She was paper thin and built like a twig. It didn't help matters that she hardly ate anything at all. Nozomi stopped frequently and sat on a bench until she could feel her arms before starting again. By the time she was half way home, it was nearly pitch-black out. At least she would be honoring her sister's request and not be home until seven.

Nozomi collapsed unto another bench at a bus stop. Her legs were starting to shake from the cold and with the heavy effort of carrying her burden from bus stop to bus stop. Despite the layers, she was shivering. Why was it so cold out?

A car pulled up to the street. It was a new car with only a couple of dents in the passenger side door. A woman with green hair rolled down the window.

"Hey kid, do you need a ride?"

Nozomi swallowed hard. She nodded. Maybe it was her lucky day and she was lured into a kidnapping plot to take her far away.

"Hop in!"

Nozomi piled in her bags and buckled into the passenger side. She pulled her skirt over her knees so that the mysterious driver would not see her knees buckling. Out of the corner of her eye, she kept glancing at the woman behind the wheel. She seemed familiar somehow. Nozomi couldn't remember from where, but she was certain she saw this woman before. There was a nagging thought she saw her on T.V.

"What's your name, kiddo?"

She balked at the stranger's insistence of making small talk. The woman had seafoam hair, dark green eyes, and a smile that lacked all the sadism Nozomi was used to. She wore a button-up shirt with suspenders and wide-legged pants.

"N-Nozomi."

"Well, Nozomi, where are we headed?"

She gave the stranger the street but refrained from giving the exact address.

"Alrighty then!" The woman made a couple of turns before heading back towards the direction Nozomi originally intended. "You can call me Emi!"

Blood drained from Nozomi's face. Now it came together. That face and hair. Emi Fukukaido, aka Ms. Joke. If her sisters saw her getting a ride from a pro hero…

"Nozomi, are you okay? You turned white as a sheet."

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. Really! I got a little flushed is all. I swear, everything's fine!"

Turning on the radio didn't help. Nozomi put her fingers to her lips and started on her nails, which were close to being stumps at any rate. Slowly, they approached her street. Block by block, they edged a just a little bit closer. _Badum-badum-badum._

"Where do you go to school? I see you've got one of the high school uniforms on, but what's with all the layers? Do you have a temperature-based quirk?"

_Badum-badum._

They passed the flower shop. Soon they would be two streets down from the house.

"I-it's a touch-based quirk, actually." Nozomi bit her tongue. She said too much.

"Oh, neat!"

_Badum-badum-badum-badum_

"Could you stop here, please?"

They were less than a block from the house, but she couldn't risk her life or Ms. Joke's if one of her sisters saw them together.

"You can stop here! I can walk the rest of the way," Nozomi said suddenly, startling Ms. Joke.

"Are you sure, kiddo?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Ms. Joke pulled over and parked at the beginning of the street. She offered to help with Nozomi's bags, but she immediately refused.

Nozomi didn't look back. She quickly walked with her load to the front door. When she reached for her keys to unlock it, it swung open. Uji smirked down at her.

"Well, look at you. You actually managed to listen for once." She pulled the door open wider. "Get in here, nerd. We're going to order pizza. Ya hungry?"

Nozomi tried not to be startled by Uji's cheerfulness and generosity. She almost looked happy to see her younger sister, which never happened. A wormhole opened in Nozomi's gut. Whatever they were planning before she arrived, set Uji in a good mood, and that wasn't a good thing, especially for public safety.

"I'll be in my room," said Nozomi. Not that it really mattered to anyone else in the house. She could disappear off the face of the earth and not one of them would bat an eyelash.

Oiwa appeared in the doorway as Nozomi walked past. She shoved a small yellowish bottle in front of Nozomi's face and rattled the pills inside.

"Don't forget your medicine this time." Oiwa shoved the bottle into Nozomi's hand and slammed her door shut.

* * *

Nozomi changed into some pajamas and stayed in bed for the rest of the night. She swallowed her medicine dry because she refused to leave the safety of her bedroom. There lines she very nearly crossed tonight. If she stepped out of her room and ran into one of her sisters, the guilt and fear would build up to the point where she'd be forced to tell the truth. Her honesty would be rewarded with severe punishment.

It didn't take long for the meds to get in. Her eyes grew heavy and her mind couldn't process any thought except how sleepy she was. Her body became too heavy to move. Nozomi couldn't even lift her pinky even if she tried. Shortly before eleven, Nozomi slipped away.

As morbid as it sounds, she almost hoped that it would be for the last time.

* * *

Saga: The Three Horsemen


	3. Chapter 2

Content Warning: This chapter contains domestic and pyschological abuse of a minor and self-harm.

* * *

Nozomi's head started bobbing as she struggled to keep her eyelids open. Mr. Yamaki lectured and wrote problems on the board, but she could barely keep her eyes open for more than few seconds. She barely heard him at all. Her head weighed twenty pounds heavier. When her forehead slammed on the desk when she could no longer hold it up, the sound caught everyone's attention. Mr. Yamaki turned to the loud thud and found her head first.

"Ms. Noguchi, is there a problem?"

Immediately, Nozomi raised her head. "N-no, sir."

"Then," he stepped aside and held out a piece of chalk, "why don't you come up to the board and solve the equation?"

The class briefly erupted with snickers and giggles. They eyed her as she sleepily lurched towards the front of the classroom. Nozomi stood back from the board. Standing up seemed to help a little, but she waivered on her feet. She squinted at the blackboard and nodded to herself. She grabbed the chalk from her teacher and stood up to the board. She pressed against a little closer than most people would, however she needed the leverage to keep standing. In her gloved hand, she started working out the problem.

It took her literal seconds to solve, much to the teacher's chagrin. He hadn't counted on the idea that even dazed and exhausted, Nozomi could still solve math problems. She was that smart; she had to be to keep her sisters from breathing down her neck. Nozomi returned to the desk without further ado. When Mr. Yamaki dismissed everyone at the bell and the students filing out, Nozomi was the last to leave.

"Ms. Noguchi hang back for a second. I want a word with you."

Nozomi gulped. She turned to face him, clutching her bag close to her.

"This is the third time this week I've caught you nodding off in class. I know school started not long ago, but I can't take you seriously if you make this a pattern," said Mr. Yamaki.

"I-I don't do it on purpose, sir. I swear. I go to bed at a decent hour. I'm just…tired. A lot."

Nozomi pushed her bag and pressed it against her chest like a shield. She hadn't even realized that she'd done it. Her feet started for the door on their own as well. Mr. Yamaki's brows furrowed. Nozomi couldn't tell for sure because she bowed her head to the ground and looked down.

"Ms. Noguchi, is everything alright at home?"

Her cheeks turned white.

"Y-y-yes, everything's fine. I gotta go!" Nozomi spun quickly on her heel and bolted for the door.

Three weeks into school and the pattern for her was already set. Teachers would catch her nodding off and lecture her about sleep. Nozomi would try her best to stay awake for it and exclaim that nothing was going on at home. The more she protested, however, the more it made her suspicious. It'd be only a matter of time before one of them figured it out. Hopefully, whatever her sisters were planning it'd take her away before the teachers called child protection services.

Nozomi walked to the girl's locker room and waited for everyone else to change before digging out her gym uniform. She changed quickly to avoid getting yelled at. Much like her regular uniform, she wore black tights and a long-sleeved shirt under her gym clothes. She met with the other students outside. They snickered while she lined up with the rest of them on the track. Coach Yamada had a quirk where he could turn his thumb and forefinger into an air-pistol. Utterly useless as a pro-hero, but as a gym teacher it worked to get all the students to start running down the track field. With Nozomi dead last.

It further didn't bode well when the first step she took led to her falling face first into the ground. While her whole class was already beating the track, the teacher's assistant was helping Nozomi to her feet. Blood trickled from her nose.

"Go sit on the bench, Noguchi," the coach sighed.

The teacher's assistant tore up pieces of tissue and stuffed them into Nozomi's nostrils. It was then that she, the assistant, noticed something.

"Hey, Mr. Kogo! It looks like somebody tied Nozomi's shoelaces together."

Nozomi looked at her shoes. Sure enough, her laces were tangled together in a mess of a knot. She sighed, pulled off her shoes, and started working on the knots. It wasn't just one giant knot. No, no. That would be too easy. Too nice of the prankster. There were multiple knots tied into one big knot. It would have been easier to save face and cut the strings altogether. Except she didn't want to pay for more shoe strings. As humiliating as it looked, Nozomi sat there on the bench, undoing every knot throughout the whole gym period.

* * *

Nozomi slammed shut her locker. She braced her forehead against the cold metal and sighed. Her body was exhausted head to toe. She could feel it in her bones. How heavy her body seemed, weighed down by shackles and chains and lockboxes nobody else could see. Taking in a deep breath once more, Nozomi slowly released it. In a few minutes, she would make her way home. Maybe this time she could stop by the music store and stare hopelessly at the guitar in the display window.

After pulling herself together, Nozomi turned to start for the main exit. A hand at her shoulder pulled her to a sharp halt. She couldn't stop the yelp coming out of her throat. She flinched at the hand out of habit. Violent tremors coursed through her.

"Nozomi…"

The moment that voice graced her ears blood rushed to her cheeks. Nozomi turned to find _him_ standing there. Bright eyes that didn't scorn or loathe her, a smile that turned her to mush, and a face that knocked out the air in her lungs.

_Tomiji Yashida_

"T-Tomiji…w-what are you—"

"Are you feeling okay? You're looking really red."

Tomiji slowly released his hand, but Nozomi would have preferred if he had kept it there. Compared to the eccentric quirk-holders at the school, Tomiji looked plain. His fair skin was complemented by his dark hair and eyes. He was plainly human. No quirk in sight. Admittedly, that was part of the attraction.

"Y-yes. I'm…fine. Sudden blood rush…you know?"

"Ah. As long as its not serious. Listen, I heard what happened in gym today. I hope you weren't hurt too bad.

"A bloody nose, pff. I get those a lot. It really isn't a big deal."

"If you're having troubles with bullies, you can talk to me. My big sister is a class representative. She can talk to the teachers and get them to stop."

"No," Nozomi looked down and away. "Don't worry about me. I'm used to it. Besides, it wouldn't do any good."

"You never know. It might," said Tomiji.

"I appreciate your offer, but I think your pity is wasted on somebody like me."

"What?" Tomiji frowned like she just spat on his grandmother. "It's not pity. I actually care about what happens to you. I mean that."

"I have to go!" Nozomi ran down the hall.

Her heart thundered. Her pulse quickened and her temples throbbed. It was no declaration of love, but it may as well have been. Worst of all, everybody was watching. She heard the snickers and gossip already churning as she ran away. No better than a dog with its tail between its legs.

She ran until she was far enough away from the school. Nozomi was so focused on running from her problems that she lost track of hwere she was. Suddenly, she found herself in a swarm of people getting in her way. Nozomi stood in the middle of the crowd, pushed this way and that way. A pain erupted in her chest like someone plunged a knife there. She clutched her chest.

_Is…is this a heart attack? Am I dying?_

Her knees buckled and crumbled beneath her. All those who were in the crowd passed by her. Uncaring, they brushed her aside and didn't even to offer help. If they saw her at all. She could have been bleeding out in the streets and she doubted any one of them would lend a hand to her. Agonized gasps of air chocked out the sound of blood rushing in her ears.

_Get it together, get it together, get it together. _

"Hey, make a hole! Give her some space!"

Was someone helping her? No. That couldn't be it.

"Hey."

Nozomi refused to respond. It was just an illusion, right?

"Hey!" The same voice repeated.

She raised her head and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a hand outstretched towards her. Her gaze followed the length of the arm until she looked at the face of the person who owned it. Jarring, spiked red hair and matching eyes that looked at her with concern.

"Do you need help?" He asked.

Nozomi shook her head. Slowly, and awkwardly, she got to her feet. She clutched her school bag to her chest. But, as soon as she stood, the blood rushed from her head down to her legs. Her head suddenly felt twenty pounds heavier. Black dots danced in her line of vision and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground again.

* * *

"Looks like she's coming to!" Someone shouted.

Nozomi woke up to the feeling of someone kissing her forehead. Her eyes snapped open. No longer was she outside, but she was in a room she did not recognize. She was wrapped in a white sheet up to her chest.

"There you are, dearie," a frail old woman stood on a stool next to the bed.

"W-where am I?" Nozomi mumbled.

"Some students were kind enough to help you to U.A's nursing office. You took quite the spill, little lady," answered the old woman.

Nozomi shot up. U.A? She was _inside _U.A Acadamy? The only thing she could think of was Kiyohime's threat.

_If I catch you trying to do something stupid, I swear I'll give you the black death and lock you in the basement where you can die alone._

Nozomi flung the sheets away from her. She scrambled for her shoes and bag found at the foot of the bed. The old woman chased after her as she snapped her shoes back on her feet.

"Wait, wait, young lady! Come back!"

Nozomi didn't stop running until she was back on the street. Her lungs were on fire. She managed to duck around the corner and stop to let her breath catch up with the rest of her. She was about to walk home when a van appeared seemingly out of nowhere. As it came to a stop, so did her heart. She recognized that van. An old-beat van with faded black paint pulled up to the curb. Uji rolled down the window.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is. My baby sister. Do you know what time it is? Do you know _where_ you are?"

"I was just—"

"I saw you running out of that school like a bat of Hades. Any particular reason why you were there?"

"No…I had a panic attack—"

"Get in the van. Kiyohime's going to deal with you later," Uji snickered.

Nozomi didn't have much of a choice. She opened the back door and climbed in. There were no seats or seatbelts to keep her from jostling around. She sat on the floor and held on tight to whatever her thin fingers could find. Unfortunately, Uji's boyfriend, Koga, was behind the wheel, and he drove worse than a drunkard.

"Y-you don't really have to tell Kiyohime where you found, do you?"

"I already texted her, so you can skip the attempts at bribery, squirt. I wonder how she's going to punish you."

Nozomi sat in silence the drive home which didn't take long.

"No goodbye kiss?" Koga asked.

"Hold on, you dirt bag," Uji laughed.

Nozomi fumbled with the door as Uji and her boyfriend made-out in the front seat, forgetting she was there. She didn't wait for them and went up to the house herself. The front door was left open. Kiyohime sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Her eyes were trained on a newspaper before she even acknowledged Nozomi's presence.

"It took you two days for you to break your promise. Two days since your last punishment. I did warn you about going to that school, didn't I?"

"Y-you don't understand. I had a panic attack. The students there took me to the nurse's station. I-I swear I wasn't trying to break your rules. Please! Please, don't make me sick again. I beg you!"

Kiyohime didn't raise her eyes even once while Nozomi rambled. Her eyes were glued to her paper. In the distance, the front door closed shut. The locks were in place.

"Even I believed you, how am I supposed to trust you? You didn't learn your lesson the last time. I'll have to take drastic measures this time."

Uji clomped into the living with her heavy boots.

"Uji, hold her still," Kiyohime ordered.

"With pleasure!"

Uji's arms were like solid columns around Nozomi's middle. Struggle as she might, she couldn't hold her own against Uji, who was so much stronger than her. Her arms squeezed Nozomi until she thought she was going to burst.

"Oiwa, you know what to do."

The second eldest sister stepped out from the kitchen. She wore a pair of sunglasses indoors. It was not her appearance that caught Nozomi's attention. It was the razor that Oiwa had in between her fingers. Nozomi shut her eyes and increased her struggle.

"Take your punishment like a man!" Uji squeezed her arms so tight around Nozomi's stomach that her eyes burst open, a natural response she didn't have time to resist.

Oiwa approached. She rolled up Nozomi's sleeves and placed the razor in on her hands. Then, slowly, slowly, she removed her sunglasses. Nozomi stared into those lifeless eyes. She heard Oiwa's whispering in her head without ever moving her mouth. The world became black around. She burst into tears. There was no one who was going to save her. She was stuck here with them. Anger and self-loathing built to a crescendo and stayed there. It stayed there on an agonizing plateu, driving her mad. There was but one way to release it.

"You know what to do." Oiwa pressed Nozomi's fingers around the razor.

Uji released her. As if commanded by someone else, Nozomi walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind her. There was nothing she could do. Her free hand started running the faucet to wash up the blood easier.

_Fight it! _She heard the voice in her head. It was nearly drowned out by Oiwa's.

"I-I can't…" Nozomi put the razor to her arm and sliced her arm.

The running water caught the blood as it dribbled into the sink. It wasn't enough. She had to make more. She moved the razor further up. Her hand shook as she pressed the razor against her skin.

_Fight!_

* * *

Kiyohime found Nozomi half unconscious on the bathroom floor. She turned off the faucet before kneeling next to her sister. She pinched gloves onto her hands to examine the wounds and a face mask to keep them clean. Nozomi only woke up when Kiyohime started to rub alcohol over the wounds. She screamed bloody murder but only stopped when her sister gave her that look. Kiyohime took after bother their shared father and her own mother. Yellow eyes speckled with red, like diseased eyes. They pinned Nozomi with a warning glare.

"I'm cleaning the wounds unless you want an infection. You've learned now, haven't you. Not that it would do you any good. Do you really think that you could get into U.A Academy? _You_? Are you not your father's daughter?"

Nozomi hissed as Kiyohime swiped another swab of alcohol over the fresh cuts. It wasn't never their father that barred her from dreaming.

"I-I'm not like you," Nozomi whimpered.

"You're right about one thing. You're not like us. You're weak and pathetic. Why Dad insisted on making _us_ take care of you is beyond me. If he saw what you became, he'd kill you himself."

Kiyohime patched her up with some bandages and sent her off to bed. Nozomi locked the door. Too tired to bother turning on the lights, she wandered into her room in the dark. Her foot stumbled across her waste bin and knocked it over. Uneasily, Nozomi got on her knees to pick up the garbage that spilled. Moonlight creeped in between her curtains, giving her barely enough light. Her shaking fingers picked up the shredded remains of the U.A. pamphlet. All that she could make out was the letters of U.A. from the front cover. She glanced at the bandages wrapped around both arms.

The boys from U.A., the ones who actually looked concerned for her, who helped her. There were still people out there who cared. Tomiji's smile appeared next to them in her mind. There were people in the world who were human. They weren't monsters like her sisters. Nozomi knelt on the ground; eyes beginning to swell with tears. She couldn't control the shaking that took her body by force. In each hand, she gathered up the remains of the pamphlet and fisted her hands around them.

_No more_.


	4. Chapter 3

Content Warning: Violence

Update: 1/13/2020. Contingency error

* * *

Nozomi tugged on her sleeve again as she headed out of her school's exit. She gripped her school bag tight and put one foot in front of the other.

"Nozomi! Wait up!"

She stopped mid-step. "T-Tomiji?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come study with me. I'm heading over to the library. Would you like to come?"

_Son of a—_

Nozomi looked down and away. Her cheeks were painted bright red. It took all of her will not to shriek 'yes.' Unfortunately, he asked on the wrong day. Tomiji smiled so pleasantly while he waited for her answer.

"I'm…I'm sorry, but I have other plans. Maybe tomorrow or next week?"

"Oh," his shoulders dropped. "I'm sorry for bothering you."

"No!" Nozomi cleared her throat. "I mean, no, you're not bothering me. But I'll definitely take a rain check on that that study dat—I mean study secession."

"I'll hold you to it."

Nozomi stood and watched him leave. Her eyes slowly meandered down his back while she watched him go. And, for a split second, she knowingly stared at his backside and admired the view. Nozomi shook her head.

"No time for that hormones." She collected herself again.

Nozomi walked the usual way home. Her heart started beating faster when she got closer to U.A. She crossed the street in order to get a better look for the red-haired kid from the day before. She'd be able to spot that hair from a mile away. Once she spotted him, Nozomi quickly—and safely—crossed the street again. Her hands shook as she approached him from behind. She reached out and tapped his shoulder.

"E-excuse me," she stuttered.

The boy turned to her. She flinched when she saw his mouth full of shark teeth.

"Oh, hey. It's you! What happened yesterday? You went down on the pavement."

"Yeah, um, I had a panic attack. I just wanted to thank you for h-helping me."

"No problem! The name's Eijiro Kirishima. What's yours?" He stuck his hand out towards her.

Nozomi stared at his hand for longer than what would be considered normal. It shocked her for a moment. Shaking, she put her hand towards his and shook it.

"N-Nozomi Noguchi," her face turned beet-red. "Um, I would like to pay you back for helping me yesterday. Could I…could I buy you something to eat?"

"Sure! Mind if I bring some friends along? They can pay for their own stuff. I'll make sure of it!"

People? Nozomi hesitated to answer. Ideally, she could speak to one or two people at a time. A group would make things…difficult.

"I-I don't mind."

"The more the merrier, right?"

"R-right," she said, forcing a smile.

* * *

Nozomi awkwardly picked at her fried rice seated at a large table. At a Chinese buffet, Eijiro and his friend enjoyed each other's company. There was a strange stirring in her gut. She should hate them, being heroes and all. In the end, she envied them. It took everything in her not to blatantly beg for their help. Nobody had ever realized she abused at home or at least never heard her disguised cries for help. But she couldn't come out and say it straight off the bat. This required more stealth and subtlety.

"Nozomi, what school do you go to?"

She tried to pin a name to the face, but for the life of her she couldn't remember. Nozomi answered, "Kunimichi High."

"Uh, that's not far from UA. I think I've seen you walking past."

"Y-yeah. I don't actually live far from there." She forced herself to eat. She was still on her first plate while everybody else had gotten up for seconds.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your quirk?" Asked Izuku Midoriya. The only reason why she could remember him was his shy disposition and his green hair.

Nozomi balked at his question. In most of her life, nobody asked her what she could do. They figured she must have been covered in scales because of all the layers she wore even in the hot, sticky summer. She swallowed hard.

This was the point of her plan, wasn't it? Get them to trust her so she could beg for help.

Why then did she hesitate?

"Um, well, it's really not that impressive. I can mimic other people's quirk and their appearance just by touching them…"

"Is that why you wear gloves?" Izuku asked, pointing to the ones she was still wearing at the dinner table.

He'd be half right. Unfortunately, it was more so she wouldn't chew on her nails.

"N-not exactly."

"Show us! I wanna see how it works." Eijiro said excitedly.

At this, Nozomi started growing pale. Nothing good ever came of showing other people her quirk. If she wasn't ridiculed, she was forced to co-operate with ideas that ended in her getting into trouble. She sat there simply staring at him, wondering if his curiosity was genuine or if he wanted something out of it. Everyone wanted something of her; likely he'd be no different. Still, how could she mistrust a smile like that? Shark teeth aside, Eijiro seemed genuine in his curiosity. Perhaps a little against her better judgment, Nozomi started to remove one of her gloves.

She stopped immediately when a voice sent a bucket of ice water over her head.

"_Table for three please_."

Nozomi looked out of the corner of her eye. Kiyohime was still dressed for work, though the top button of her blouse was undone, revealing a pearl necklace. Thankfully, she hadn't seen Nozomi.

_Yet._

Nozomi swore under her breath and ducked underneath the table. She rattled silverware and plates as she dove down to hide from her sister's gaze. Hugging her knees to her chest, she sat in terror. Eijiro pushed aside the table cloth and ducked his head beneath the table.

"What's going on?"

"M-my sister…i-if she catches me here with you all, I'm worse than dead," Nozomi whispered.

Blood drained completely from her face. Waves of nausea hit her, and bile rose in her throat. She thought that Kiyohime with her snooty palate would never eat here. Why? Why of all the places did Kiyohime pick this one?

_Let me out. I can handle this better than you can._

"No, it's too dangerous," she hissed back.

"Is everything okay?" Asked Izuku.

"Do you need to sneak out of here before your sister sees you?" Eijiro didn't question why she needed to escape, and she was grateful for it.

Wordlessly, she nodded her head.

"Alright, give me a sec." Eijiro disappeared.

Beneath the table, Nozomi could barely make out what was going above her. Eijiro and his classmates whispered amongst each other. After a few minutes, Eijiro ducked down again.

"Is your sister the one with the doctor's mask?"

Nozomi nodded. Kiyohime rarely went anywhere without it and even wore at home.

"Give it just a second." He disappeared again.

More whispers that Nozomi couldn't make out. Then, a couple of people moved from their chairs. Feet shuffled along. Nozomi waited with baited breath. Desperately, she wanted to see what kind of plan they had formed in less than ten minutes. She didn't have to wait long.

A crash, glass shattered. Her sister started yelling about her shirt. She called someone clumsy and stupid before huffing off somewhere. Eijiro ducked under the table again to send off.

"Go, go, go." He and his classmates told her.

She quickly grabbed her bag and ran for the exit. Nozomi didn't stop running until she was safely away. Guild rotted in her stomach like a corpse. Now, she would have to repay twice over for footing the bill when she basically dined and dashed.

* * *

Nozomi made it home before Kiyohime, but the house was otherwise empty. Or so it appeared to be. She didn't bother knocking on doors or calling for anyone. She learned her lesson the hard way not to disturb her sisters. Likely, Uji was sleeping off a hangover and Oiwa was doing some awful experiment. Nozomi tip-toed through the house to her room. She softly shut and locked her door. With a heavy sigh, she changed into her pajamas and tried to settle in for the night. When that didn't work, she pulled up to her desk and worked on homework. Teachers wondered how someone like who missed several days of school could manage to keep up didn't know much about genetic material. If there was one thing that Nozomi was proud to say she shared with her sisters, and there was only _one_ thing, it was the genius level I.Q. She wasn't nearly empty-headed as some claimed her to be. She just didn't always have the answers right away.

She read up on her biology until her eyes started drooping. Nozomi closed the textbook and put away her note-taking pencils. Yes, she had a separate set of pencils for making notes. One of which rolled off the desk to the floor. Nozomi bent over to pick up. It rolled under the space between the desk drawer and the floor. As her hand groped the carpet for the pencil, the back of her hand grazed against a hard surface. The problem was the bottom of the drawers were super thin and couldn't contain a lot of things. Brows furrowed, she felt again. Probing more, she found a shape she didn't recognize. This time, Nozomi got on her hands and knees to get a better look. She stuck both hands under the desk drawer.

There were spaces that weren't there before. Like someone glued a box of some kind to the bottom. Underneath, she also found strips of Velcro attached to said box-like object. Her fingers were thin enough to grasp the strips and pull them apart. She pulled out what looked more like a book than a box. Nozomi wondered aloud where it came from. Flipping it open, she realized that it was journal, but the penmanship wasn't hers. There was an agitated scrawling style when it came to writing kanji and pages were marked with small holes where pencils broke through the paper.

Nozomi took it with her to bed and put it on her bedside table. She swallowed her medicine dry and slipped into bed. The journal lay near her head as she drifted off to sleep. As the drug slowly enveloped her, Nozomi couldn't help but wonder where the diary came from.

* * *

"That was a little weird," said Denki. "The way she ran off like that. Do you think she was that scared of her sister?"

"I don't know, man, you should've seen the look on her face. Nozomi turned white as a ghost and she looked like she was about to throw up. Something's up with her family." Kirishima couldn't help but wonder what exactly made her scared in the first place.

"That sister of hers was creepy and mean," Ochaco explained. "Her eyes were…creepy. I was almost too scared to approach her." She wrapped her arms around herself to stave off the shivers already coursing through.

There had definitely been something wrong with those eyes. Yellow with red-flecks and the way she glared at Ochaco, if looks could kill. The plan went swimmingly, and the older sister didn't notice a thing. It didn't take long to discover why Nozomi wanted to flee unnoticed so badly.

"I'm more concerned about the scars on her wrists," said Tsu.

The group suddenly. Each stared at Tsu at the revelation.

"I noticed that she has a habit of tugging on her sleeves," she explained, "I saw a little bit of a scar on her wrist and some bandages."

"Y-you think she's hurting herself?" Izuku paled at the idea.

"It's a strong possibility," said Tsu.

* * *

Nozomi picked up the mysterious journal from her bedside table. She fell asleep before she could try prying into its secrets. Knowing that leaving it out, no matter whatever it held, one of her sisters was bound to see it and find some fault within. There was no time to hide it or put it back where she found it. Little else to do with it, Nozomi stuffed it in her school bag and went on her merry way, narrowly escaping breakfast with a very hungover Uji and sleep deprived Oiwa.

School went on as normally, though she struggled to keep the journal well-hidden. Her rattled nerves kept her alert enough to stay awake throughout all her classes. Towards the end of the day, there was one free period before her last class. Nozomi snuck off into the library with the journal.

Nozomi crept between the massive shelves of books, keeping out of the librarian's sight. She didn't quite understand the necessity of secrecy herself, but more often than not her paranoia paid off. She walked quietly down the aisles until she was completely out of sight. If she didn't make any sudden noise, no one would suspect her hiding back her.

She sat on the floor with her back braced against the bookshelf. The hard wood hurt her back, but there were no chairs or desks. Digging into her bag, she pulled out the journal. It wasn't a dingy old composition notebook nor was it an elaborately decorated leather-bound tome. It a plain black journal filled half-way with writing. Nozomi pried it open to the first page and began to read though the penmanship made her eyes sore.

_August 11, 20—_

_ If you're reading this, Nozomi, then, that means you've found my journal. Or at least I hope it's Nozomi. I've had to burn all the others to keep those four witches from finding out. Yeah. It's me. Akane._

Nozomi felt blood drain from her face. Her other half was…writing to her. To her? To herself? Was that even possible? What was going on? She read further under the same entry.

_ You're probably wondering why I did such a stupid thing like leave a trail. In your current state, you're incapable of doing anything against them. It's not your fault. Don't believe a word they say. Because, in actuality, all of your problems stem from their evil doings…_

Nozomi paused. Well, it was weird that her alter felt it necessary to state the obvious. Nozomi noted the agitated mark where Akane wrote the kanji for evil. The alter personality must have been overcome by a powerful and angry emotion when writing that word and the pencil snapped. There was a hole gauged into the page where it broke.

_ …You are not crazy. You weren't ill until they got their hands on you. There are some things that you do not remember, and I wonder if its better for you to remain in the dark. I'm writing this in hopes of helping you, and helping us, get out of here. The drugs that they've been feeding you—_

"Nozomi! There you are!"

She snapped the book closed at the sound of _his _voice. Her cheeks turned bright red. Immediately, Nozomi started packing the journal back into her school bag before he could see it and ask questions. She got to her feet as Tomiji stepped forward.

"I thought I would find you here. What are you doing all the way in the back?" He whispered to avoid getting in trouble with the librarian.

"Um, well, I needed some quiet time. Away from people." She felt her fingers twitch at her side.

"I know just how you feel," Tomiji smiled.

Nozomi nearly turned into a puddle at that point. He stood so close she could reach out and touch him.

_Why's a cute guy like this talking to a girl like me? Ugh, just bury me in a hole right now!_

"Are you feeling okay, Nozomi?"

"Y-yeah. Um, what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you'd be willing to come with me to the library after school. I know that your sisters have a super strict curfew on you, but do you think you could talk them into letting you come to the library with me today?"

_What am I supposed to say now?_

Without ever meaning to, Nozomi opened her mouth and said, "Y-yeah. I think I can do that."

"Great!" Tomiji was so excited he raised his voice a little too high, earning a sharp shush from the librarian. "Great," he said more quietly. "I'll meet you after school at the gate."

Nozomi watched him go with a blank stare. _Now, I've done it. _She pulled out her phone and started texting. Thankfully, her phone was on vibrate so not to alert the librarian.

Kiyohime's reply read, _Funny. I was about to ask you to stay out again. Don't be back until after 7. Got it?_

Nozomi didn't bother replying. Kiyohime was probably at work at the morgue and should not be disturbed. Nausea rippled through Nozomi's stomach and almost made her vomit up her small lunch. She swallowed the sour bile rising in her throat and pushed it back. Shakily, she returned to class. She was barely able to pay attention.

* * *

Students pushed and shoved her along in the crowd all exiting out of the building. Nozomi braced herself for each impact. Some of them laughed at how flinched at the slightest ignored them as she waded through the sea of her peers. She reached the gate but Tomiji was nowhere in sight. She slinked out of the way to keep from being trampled and leaned against the wall facing the school.

"Oooh, I wonder why Blackie is standing by the gate all by her lonesome?" A girl giggled.

Blackie. Black sheep or on account of all the black she swore, that was the rather unimaginative certain peers chose to label her as. They knew she had a quirk but didn't know what it was. She was always covered from toe to neck; it made her stand out even more. None of them seemed to care that she was a bundle of nerves, shaking and violently ill if someone so much as brushed shoulders with her. Some ignored her existence entirely, and that was all for the better. There were some, like in all schools, that simply didn't care that she was much more fragile than they were and her weak constitution, on top of everything else, painted an even bigger target on her back.

A gaggle of girls stepped out from the swarm to surround Nozomi. She was pinned against the wall with her school bag as her only shield of defense. She knew these three alright. They'd picked on her since the first year of middle school. Tama, the snake-haired Medusa with the face of a young beauty queen, and her cronies, Ebi and Junko, the Snake Twins. Never was there a more twisted group of girls to have tormented a high school student. Well, besides Nozomi's own sisters. Nozomi cast her eyes down and didn't speak a word. Talking back would only make things worse.

She found that out the hard way with Uji and her other sisters.

"What's the matter, Blackie? Too chicken to say anything?" Tama taunted. The snakes that made up her hair hissed which sounded more like laughter.

"Who do you think she's waiting for?" Ebi, the girl with blue scales, joked along.

"Could it be a…boy?" Junko, who was the twin with pink scales, said next.

"Oh, I highly doubt that. Somebody as pathetic as Blackie doesn't stand a chance." Tama reached out and grabbed Nozomi, cupping her chin.

Forced to look up, Nozomi was paralyzed by Tama's mesmerizing eyes. Though her quirk didn't allow Tama to turn anyone into stone, her powerful gaze could still cause massive psychic damage.

"Despite your pretty face, you're still another ugly duckling. Always simpering in the corner or puking your guts out. You're so thin, I'm almost jealous, but then again, I don't want to look like a skeleton."

_Let me out._

Great. Now, Akane was agitated.

_I'll knock her into next week! _

Nozomi bit her tongue. _'Don't. You'll just provoke them. Then everybody will know.'_

_Coward._

'_At least I'll live.'_

"I think that's enough."

A hand shot out of nowhere and pulled Tama away from Nozomi. Nozomi had her gaze ripped away from her would-be tormentor. She blinked and rubbed her eyes as if waking from a bad dream.

"Listen, Quirkless Wonder, if you know what's good for you, you'll mind your business!" Tama yelled.

Nozomi's breath was knocked out of her. Tomiji was facing Tama all on his own. He was a head taller than her and more physically fit, but could he withstand her quirk?

"No, _you _listen. Are you forgetting who my older sister is? She's the class representative, remember? If you so much as lay a finger on me or Nozomi-chan, you and your friends will be booted out before you can say 'expelled.'"

"Nozomi-chan?" Tama burst out in laughter. "You're on first name basis with Blackie? Hahaha, that's too good! You too deserve each other!"

Tama and her snaky minions joined the slowly dwindling crowd. She was laughing the entire time. Nozomi froze against the wall. Legs shaking beyond her control, she couldn't move. This must have been a dream, right? Tomiji was playing her shining knight in armor when she needed him the most.

"Nozomi, are you alright?"

She nodded. That was pretty much all she could do at that point.

Tomiji took two steps towards her. He stood in front of her to block the view of her from other students. Nobody was going to step up against the principal's younger brother. When it seemed the coast was clear, Tomiji turned to her.

"Are you alright?" He asked again.

Nozomi could only nod.

"Do you still feel up to going to the library?"

Nozomi remembered Kiyohime's text message. She looked at Tomiji's concerned yet hopeful eyes. Her teeth bit down on the inside of her cheek. Slowly, she nodded again.

"May I take your arm, milady?"

She nearly fainted when he offered his arm to her. He was practically asking to hold hands! Nozomi's brain malfunctioned as she stared at the proffered limb. Her legs moved automatically towards him. They were nearly buckling at the knee, so she would indeed have to allow him to support her on the way to the library. She took his arm by her gloved hand while still holding her school bag to her chest. Walking together, so close, made her heart pound inside her chest. She looked at the ground where she walked. Light-headed, she thought she was still dreaming.

Tomiji didn't say anything about what kind of project he was working on. Nozomi became very curious when he pulled out a stack of papers from his bag and laid them next to him. When he wasn't paying attention, Nozomi laid out the journal in her lap and a text book on the desk. She would make it look like she was studying for English while trying to figure what her alter personality wrote in the secret journal.

But with Tomiji sitting across from her it was difficult to pretend to study.

She couldn't help but glance up at him and stare. But only when she knew he wasn't looking. He had an intense look on his face as he flipped through the pages of the numerous periodicals, he had sitting next to him. Her gaze was drawn to the tip of his highlighter that he occasionally nibbled on when he was in deep thought.

_What I would give to be that highlighter…Ah! Shut up and read. And stop staring at him. It's a wonder you haven't scared him away yet. _

"Nozomi, is everything alright?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Because you don't look it. You've been staring into space for the last five minutes. Is there something you want to talk about?"

She shook her head. "Uh, no. Not really. I'm a little scatter-brained right now. I-I'm sorry. I don't' think my head's in studying today after all."

"Would you like a break from English? I don't have anything interesting to read, but you could help me with this extra credit report for me." Tomiji skimmed through the pile of papers and pulled out a thick packet. "Here, if you could skim through this and highlight the parts for me about the effects of certain medication on quirks?"

"You're writing a paper on quirks?" Out of curiosity, Nozomi took the periodical from him.

It would be one thing for a non-quirk user to be curious on their own, however, she didn't hear of any teacher assigning this kind of project, even for extra credit.

"Yeah, I'm taking an advanced course on the sociological effects that quirks have had in the world. I wanted to do this paper from the angle of mental health since the advent of quirks." Tomiji suddenly blushed. "It's not weird is it? Because I keep thinking I sound like a fanboy."

When he made that face, Nozomi didn't know what to do with herself. She didn't know whether to praise him or jump over the table and hug him. She smiled.

Her voice cracked, but she managed to say, "No, not at all."

She put away her books and started reading. The first few paragraphs were boring; there wasn't much in psychology she didn't know. Living with one and have access to some of her library, Nozomi learned more about the psychological aspects of human behavior through osmosis alone than ever going outside. But then, the article grew concerning.

'…_Adverse effects of anti-psychotic medication has often led to unpredictable results in quirk users. Quirk-users have reported multiple symptoms regarding not only their physical and mental health, but as Dr. K— reported in his earlier findings a decade after the first quirk user appeared, various kinds of interruptions in otherwise normal behaving quirks have occurred.' _

"Interesting," she mumbled.

"Did you say something?" Asked Tomiji.

"This article. Where did you find it?"

While Tomiji looked through his notes for the answer, Nozomi read further. Her blood started turning cold then to freezing. In the middle of the article was a list of known anti-psychotic medication that were shown to have the worst side effects in quirk users while non-quirk users were left relatively unmaimed. She felt blood drain from her face as she read the list. There was one that sounded a little too familiar.

_Nophilozine_. A blue lozenge Oiwa made sure she never run out of. Nozomi couldn't even remember a time when she didn't take it. It was so long ago…

_There are some things that you do not remember, and I wonder if it's better for you to remain in the dark… The drugs that they've been feeding you—_

"Nozomi?"

Tomiji's hand grabbed hers. She shot out of her chair and knocked it over.

"I-I-I'm sorry. I must go. I'll…I'll catch up with you tomorrow." She was already packing her things and booking it towards the nearest exit before Tomiji could stop her.

He wasn't far behind her when she made it to the street. As soon as he called for her, Nozomi started running hard. She kept running and running until her legs gave out. A crack in the side walk tripped her up, sending her face first into the pavement.

Black dots danced in her vision. She blacked out again; that couldn't be very good for her brain. Nozomi picked herself up, dusted her bruised and scuffed cheek, and gathered her scattered school supplies. She scrambled around the concrete to pick up her pencils and notebooks but missed the journal from under her desk drawer. When she at last found it and reached for it, a foot trampled on. Nevertheless, Nozomi pulled on it. It would not budge.

She raised her head in order to ask for it and turned white at the face leering down at her. The man's face was hardly pleasant to look at and the same could be said for his cohorts. Each were about ten to twenty years her senior, but by the look on their faces, they could care less about her age. Bile rose in her throat.

"C-Could I have my journal b-b-back, please?"

The man grinned with a shark-like grin, rows of pointy teeth. Nozomi couldn't help but feel a little like Red-Riding Hood who ventured too far into the woods.

"Sure, sweetheart." He released his foot and let her take back the journal.

Nozomi didn't look anywhere but down. She stuffed the journal back into her bag and walked away. Tried to, is what she would say. The man and his friends had other ideas.

"You're pretty cute for a skeleton. Want some company, little girl?"

Nozomi shook her head. Her throat seized up; she couldn't scream even though she desperately wanted to. He had his hand on her arm and refused to let her go. She dragged her feet as he pulled her into the alleyway. Three against one, how was she supposed fight them?

Her heart thundered against her rib cage. It was beating so loud that she was sure they heard it and it excited them even more. Nozomi managed to slip out of his grasp only because her arm was thin. She ran to the edge of the alley, blocked by heaps of trash and an overflowing dumpster. There was a fire escape, but she would have to leap over piles upon piles of garbage to reach it and she was nowhere near flexible or fast enough to reach it in time.

Nozomi spun around to see the three men gaining on her. She clutched her school bag to her chest. She backed away, narrowly avoiding garbage and falling on her back. Her path only stopped when her back hit the dumpster.

"P-please, I-I don't have any money."

"We don't want your money, sweetheart." One of them said. A tall, pale man with black hair covering his left eye.

_Let me out_.

Another snickered. He was tattooed everywhere from his bald head to his knuckles. He licked his leathery lips. "Girls are so much cuter when they whimper like that."

"Yeah, they are," said the pale man.

Blood drained from her face. Sweat dribbled down the side of her face. The tightness in her throat was suffocating. The men approached her, slowly, enjoying the game of taunting her.

_I'll rip their guts out!_

"Y-You don't want to do this. Trust me! You're only provoking her!" If she couldn't convince them any other way, maybe talking like a crazy person would turn them off.

"Her? Who's her? Your sister on her way or somethin'?"

"The more the merrier!"

Nozomi shook her head. Her legs were close to buckling underneath her. Violent tremors rippled through her body. Her eyes stared into the space behind the men, hoping against hope that someone would see and stop it before something bad happened.

_If they want a good time, I'll show them a good time! _

Akane. Akane was the bad thing about to happen.

"Ah, I think you scared her too much, Yozo. It must be your ugly face!" The tattooed laughed at the one with shark teeth.

"Don't come any closer!" Nozomi shouted.

Blood rushed to her head. She felt it pumping hard in her ears. It pumped so loud in her eardrums, Nozomi couldn't hear anything but her own heartbeat.

_If they lay a hand on you, I'm coming out. Whether you want me to or not!_

"Wait, wait, wait—"

The tattooed man reached for her. He grabbed a lock of her hair and pulled it up to his face. "Mmm, she smells like jasmine."

Nozomi bowed her head. She tried to warn them. Something warm and wet dribbled down her lips. She licked her lips and tasted blood. Tiny red diamonds fell to the ground before her vision completely blacked out.

* * *

Izuku Midoriya really should have just stuck to school work. He worked so hard to get into UA, but today his mind was not in hero work or studies. His classmate's recent acquaintance was a concerning distraction. He saw her, alright. It was hard to miss. She looked like a fragile porcelain doll and always covered from her neck down to her feet. She also wore gloves all the time. He couldn't help but wonder if it really was due to her quirk and not something else to hide. Tsu's observation about the scars and bandages could have been Nozomi's cry for help. Why else would she try to associate with UA students if she wasn't looking for a hero?

Izuku's rambling thoughts were cut short by a scream. Stupidly, he followed the sound. He ran towards it as if someone was in danger. And they might be. He just didn't expect to see what he saw.

He reached the entrance of a garbage-strewn alley. Three unconscious bodies lay on the ground. And a girl stood amid the chaos.

She was tall with black hair and a pair of short red horns sprouted a little above her hairline. She stepped over the bodies. Her knuckles were red and bruised and there was a cut on her face. Blood dripped and smeared on her cheek and down her nose. There were holes in her familiar-looking black tights. Then, she looked up.

His own blood drained from his face. He could not believe what he was seeing. That face…he knew it and at the same time, he couldn't recognize it. Instead of bright cherry-red eyes staring back him, deep wine-colored eyes glanced at him. Bruised lips curled into a smirk as she made her way towards him. Izuku stood stock-still.

She didn't acknowledge his presence at first. She turned out of the alley as if she hadn't beaten three men into unconsciousness. Izuku got a closer look and realized that his first analysis might have been wrong. Nozomi was thin and built like a willow tree. This girl was built more like an oak, strong and tall. She was physically fit, maybe even packing heat beneath those long sleeves. The exact opposite of Nozomi.

Still, he had to make sure.

"Nozomi Noguchi?"

The girl stopped immediately. In slow motion, she turned her head towards him. Looking over her shoulder at him, her wine-colored eyes briefly flashed a brighter red, though he was certain it was just a trick of light. Her red horns seemed to gleam in the sunset.

"I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else," she chuckled. Her voice was a little deeper than Nozomi's.

She was confident, self-assured, and even a little pleased with herself.

"S-sorry. I thought you looked familiar." Izuku watched her turn back and continued to watch as she made her way down the street. He stopped when she disappeared around the corner.

* * *

Nozomi shivered. She woke up to the cold and found herself sitting on the porch. The front door swung open. Uji stood in the doorway with her car keys in hand. She sneered at Nozomi. Her face certainly didn't soften at the blood and bruises that marred Nozomi's face and body.

"Get in here, brat." She grabbed Nozomi's arm and yanked her up.

Nozomi stumbled inside and sent to the living room.

"Look who I found sitting outside!" Uji shoved her onto the couch. "Stupid brat's covered in bruises."

"And blood," noted Oiwa.

"What did you do?" Asked Kiyohime.

Her three sisters surrounded her in a semi-circle. There was nowhere to go.

"I-I ran into some thugs and barely escaped."

"Get me a flashlight," said Kiyohime.

Uji left the room for a moment. Nozomi heard her fumbling through the kitchen drawers and then heard her footsteps stomping back to the living room. She gave Kiyohime the flashlight she found.

"Look up," Kiyohime ordered Nozomi.

She did as instructed. Kiyohime turned on the flashlight and pointed it directly into her eyes.

"Pupils constricted. Do you feel nauseous or overly tired?"

"N-no."

"Are your ears ringing? Do you feel dizzy? Confused?"

"No," Nozomi answered.

"Then get yourself cleaned. I don't want you tracking blood in the house. The alcohol is under the sink. You can bandage yourself up this time, can't you?"

"Y-yes."

Nozomi spent an hour in the shower scrubbing blood and dirt away. Some of it wasn't even hers.

"Akane, what did you do?"

_What was necessary._


	5. Chapter 4

The more she delved into the diary, the more Nozomi began to realize how much danger she was in. She knew that little voice inside her head wasn't something just of her imagination and whenever she fell asleep, her body would still wake up exhausted. There were nights she woke up with bruises on her hands, face, and legs and never knew where they came from. Her sisters were concerned only in that they could be implicated of abuse if anyone saw her in such a state. As far as Nozomi knew, none of them were aware of the second personality hiding inside her brain.

And it would stay that way if the entries in the journal meant anything.

This second person inside of her went out of her way to inform Nozomi of what her sisters had been doing. Not just with her medication and abuse, but with all of the illegal activity. You know, outside of the usual. But it wasn't as if Akane, the second personality, was blabbing about all the details. There were some things she insisted on keeping to herself. Considering the information she knew, it would be foolish to write it all down, unsure if only Nozomi's eyes would read them.

Nozomi read her alter's diary whenever she could find the time. She kept it out of her sisters' sight and carried it with her everywhere. She didn't mind the extra weight in her school bag. During free period, Nozomi meandered back to the school's library and sequestered herself behind the shelves of books. It was quiet and peaceful, unlike her home life. But that wasn't the only reason why she stole herself away back here. Tama and her cohorts were growing more bold in spite of Tomiji's threats. It seemed as though they didn't care about the consequences. The day before she found a dead frog from the biology lab in her desk. The pungent smell of formaldehyde, that all too familiar stench, made Nozomi wretch right there in front of her class. Because of them, she spent the rest of the school day in the nurse's office.

Nozomi found her now usual spot. It was cozy like an abandoned alcove. The books were so old back here that the smell of them filled the corner. She sat on the floor, perfectly safe to do so out of the librarian's visuals. Though wall of books and heavy wood against her back was comfortable, Nozomi tried to make the best of the situation. The journal creaked as she turned to the page where she left off.

Her alter personality had done some research on her own when Nozomi took a nap once by accident. She'd fallen asleep at the library some time back and she could scarcely recall the event. This must have been shortly before or after Yurei's death. Akane had taken the liberty of researching the medication they'd been given her since…ages. Nozomi couldn't even remember when she first started taken it. She couldn't even remember how she came to be raised by those four to begin with. She knew that they were still teenagers when she came in their 'care,' if she had to call it that. What precisely inspired Akane to research the medication was left to Nozomi's imagination. Akane's diary revealed nothing about the 'why.' Curiosity? Paranoia? Who knew at this point.

The medication, Nophilozine, was a heavy anti-psychotic medication. Years ago, it had been studied for the treatment of schizophrenia and other mental disorders. Namely, dissociative identity disorder. Nozomi had to be careful what she researched in the house. Uji was a computer whiz who could hack any computer from the safety of her room. It would be as easy as knocking down Nozomi's bedroom door for her to find a suspicious search engine entries. From what Nozomi gathered at libraries, DID, dissociative identity disorder was the brain's way to change a story, cover up the fact that something terrible, something unspeakably bad, had happened to the patient. The trouble with Nozomi was that she couldn't remember what memories she created Akane to cover up. Akane filled in some holes, but there were still hundreds more in her memory. The prospects of filling them all up and seeing the full story anytime soon sounded like a pipedream.

Nozomi started to read the entry from just before Yurei died.

…_If they wanted you dead, they would have done so by now. I'm curious as to why they've kept you alive this long, especially considering that it seems that they were obligated by the old man of yours. They're under no obligation, it seems, to inform him of your health. They're only concerned about the police and the state finding out. _

_I believe it's less about keeping you out of harm's way, and more about controlling you. Controlling us. From what I've found about that medicine is that is not only powerful, it's dangerous. It's the kind of drug even adults OD on. There are plenty of studies about the side effects in regards to the body and mental health. Twice as many articles talk about the effects it has on quirks. _

_The results were always random. Some reported no effects at all meanwhile some would find their quirks enhanced or reduced to nothing. One study observed twelve quirk-users on this medication and the affects were different in every patient. The drug somehow got out in the market for recreational use, especially since the sedative effect might be considered by some a way to get high. Again, the effects weren't all the same except in one aspect. _

_It was all chaos._

Nozomi read further on until she was supposed to head back to homeroom. Akane listed the side effects of the drug, many of which Nozomi had. Bile rose in her throat. She returned to class green around the gills, prompting the teacher to send her to the nurse's office. Nozomi obeyed and marched over. The nurse looked less than pleased to see her so soon, but made up a cot for her.

The final bell rang, however, Nozomi dreaded returning home. Home made her stomach churn. Akane's reports, if they could be trusted, painted an ugly picture, one that Nozomi didn't want to see completed. She already knew her half-sisters were cruel and evil as they were cunning. Nozomi returned to homeroom just as everybody had filed out. She sighed with relief to find it undisturbed. She walked slowly at the back of crowd, trying to find some excuse to avoid going home.

Then, as if answering her prayers or reading her mind, Tomiji gently pushed his way through the crowd to get to her. He smiled warmly until he saw the dull, partially faded bruise under her eye. Nozomi had enough skill with make-up to hide most bruises, but she was so tired when she woke up that morning, she decided against it. The bruise was healing fairly quick on its own. Most people didn't bother to look and ask how she got. Nozomi usually walked and talked with her head down anyway. Nobody would have really saw it unless they were looking for it.

"What happened to your face?" Tomiji's tone scared her.

Did he…Did he sound concerned? For her? Nozomi's heart beat so loud.

"Oh. This…it's nothing. Really."

"What happened?" Tomiji insisted on asking.

_Yes, Akane. What happened? _

The alter personality was silent.

"I-I, uh, I was making my way home when this...thief came barreling out of a grocery store. He was running and he didn't see me and I was…um, hit."

"A thief?" Repeated Tomiji.

"Yes," said Nozomi, nodding, "A thief. He was t-trying to make off with some poor cashier's money, but a hero stopped him before he could get far. And, I, um, was just collateral damage."

"I hope you weren't hurt too bad."

"No, not really." _Uji hits harder than this._

There was a moment of silence between them. Nozomi's palms started to sweat beneath her gloves. They both looked nervously at each. Tomiji was the only one who had the nerve to say something first.

"About the other day—"

"It wasn't you, I promise! I-I-I realized that my sister's wanted me home early and I didn't want to get in trouble."

"Oh, good. That's a relief. I thought that you didn't like me very much," Tomiji chuckled.

Nozomi blushed slightly. _The opposite couldn't be more true. _

"That…that's not true. I l-like you very much, Tomiji-kun."

"Tomiji," he said.

Nozomi's brows furrowed.

"Even if we're not alone, I prefer it if you called me by name without honorifics. Don't I always say your name without honorifics?"

Nozomi's blush deepened. Her throat sealed tight; she didn't know what to say next. The realization hit her like a truck.

"Listen, I was going to get something to drink. Would you like coming with me?"

Unable to speak, Nozomi gleefully nodded her head.

Oh, how did she regret coming.

Tomiji ordered for them both. He drank his coffee dark and unsweetened. For Nozomi, he ordered something sweet with caramel and extra cream as if he knew exactly what she liked. She couldn't look him in the eye. She couldn't look anywhere except at her hands. There were people staring; she could feel their eyes on her.

It couldn't be denied that Tomiji was a very handsome young man. He was lean and physically fit. His black hair was perfect. Those dark eyes of his were surprisingly bright and cheerful. Of course, there were equally attractive teen girls seated around the coffee shop, looking him up and down. Then, they looked at her.

Nozomi was frail, almost too tall for her size, and had deep dark bags under her eyes. Her face was too angular because of the lack of body fat. If you lifted her shirt, you would probably find her ribcage. She shook too much and her fingers twitched. She wasn't ugly. With a little work, she could pass as a normal teenager. She might be pretty if she put effort into her looks. Nozomi glanced at a couple of the girls who had been staring at Tomiji's back since they sat down. They were more attractive than her by every meaning of the word. They looked like they took care of themselves. When their eyes accidentally met, Nozomi cast her eyes downward again.

One of those girls got up. She made her way over to their table. She was pink-haired and had delicate antler horns that sprouted spring cherry blossoms. She smelled sickly sweet. The first words out of her mouth was a flirting introduction. Her eyes were glued to Tomiji and she barely glanced at Nozomi. For a moment, Nozomi was relieved. How could Tomiji stand to be so close to her? He deserved someone far prettier.

"Excuse me but I'm trying to enjoy my coffee date," he said.

Both Nozomi and the girl stared at him aghast. The girl turned on Nozomi with a jealous fire burning in her eyes. If looks could kill.

"I-It's not a date!" Nozomi managed to startle the whole café.

If she was worried about people staring at her, they were really staring now. Her face was red as a tomato and she was shaking more visibly under the scrutiny.

"We're at a coffee shop together. We're at the same table and I would like to think we're enjoying each other's company. Is this not a date?"

The girl made herself scarce, murmuring about how men 'just don't have good taste anymore.' She and her friends left the café, huffing and rolling their eyes at Tomiji. Nozomi was largely silent for the rest of the time. For a while, she was too nervous to say anything. She quietly watched Tomiji drink his coffee. She didn't want to look disgusted, but she couldn't imagine the appeal of plain coffee.

"W-why are you drinking that?" She finally asked.

"What?"

"Black coffee. I-isn't it bitter?"

Tomiji gave her small smile. A mischievous look flared in his eyes like dark glitter. "Oh, yes. It is bitter, but I like it that way. Dark and bitter as my soul."

Nozomi stared blankly at him. Tomiji started laughing.

"I'm just messing with you! Haha. But seriously though, I don't know why I prefer my coffee dark. I'm just not a fan of sweeteners or cream in my coffee."

"Oh." That made her feel a little better. At least she knew that she wasn't sitting across from a villain.

Somehow, and she still couldn't believe it, Tomiji roped her into a coffee date. Nozomi, on the other hand, refused to call it such. She was dreaming or delusion that Tomiji of all people would want such a thing from her. He was just being nice.

Her heart pounded against her chest the whole walk home. Her cheeks were warm to the touch. Nozomi couldn't help but allow herself a small smile. Tomiji was a good person, maybe she could call him a friend too. It was stupid and crazy, but she wanted kind of wanted to be more than friends. Unfortunately, Tomiji was too handsome, smart, and kind to be _her_ boyfriend. Ultimately, he was too good for her. Nozomi spent the long walk home contemplating on how to tell Tomiji this.

When she at last opened the door, no one yelled at her. There was no one to greet her. She found out why. Nozomi walked into the living room and thought to pass through it to get to the kitchen. All three of her sisters were huddled around the dinner table. Nozomi quickly glanced to the papers they were gleaning over. Nothing but maps and blueprints. Her half-sisters stopped whatever it is they were doing to stare at her. Nozomi quickly, and wisely, averted her gaze so they could not accuse her of spying.

She said nothing. Talking would only make them angry.

Nozomi put her back to them and pretended she saw nothing. She quickly walked to her room without making noise. She locked her door once she was safely behind it. Blood throbbed in her temples as she waited for the dreaded sound of footsteps coming towards her bedroom door. When her ears were greeted by the sound of silence, Nozomi sighed with relief. She pulled up to her desk, sat down, and started on her homework.

The hours dragged on. By the time she finished, it was midnight. Nozomi rubbed her sore eyes in hope for a small relief. Out of habit, she grabbed her pill bottle but when she had it, she paused. The printed label glared back at her with the name of the drug. Akane's diary warned her about the drug and what it was doing to her, to them. In most countries, Nophilozine was banned and made illegal. This included Japan. Nozomi was too afraid to ask where her sisters got the drug from. They were the Four Horsemen and their father continued to run the second most powerful villainous league in Japan while still behind bars. It wouldn't be difficult at all for them to get their greedy hands on a drug. If it meant subduing their little sister, any one of them were capable of getting it.

Nozomi popped the top off and put a single blue pill in the palm of her hand. She stared at it while she debated with herself. Whatever her sisters planned for her, Nozomi was no longer going to be cowed into it. It didn't take long at all for her to decide what to do with it. She put the pill on her desk and found the biggest hardcover book she could find on her shelf. Carefully, Nozomi pressed the spin on top of the pill and slowly added weight. She heard the pill break apart, but it wasn't enough. There was still too much evidence. She gathered the remnants and repeated the process until the pill was a small pile of pale blue dust. With a wet napkin, Nozomi wiped up the remains and buried them in her waste bin.

The deed being done, Nozomi changed and crawled into bed. It was just too bad that it took hours before her body settled down. Eventually, her eyelids became heavy.

As soon as her body and mind started to drift into sleep, she heard footsteps slowly approaching her door. Nozomi's eyes flew open at the sound. The footsteps stopped.

"Nozomi?" Oiwa knocked.

Nozomi gathered her blankets around her and clutched them tight to her body.

"Nozomi."

Oiwa jiggled the doorknob to find it locked. She rattled it some more and braced her shoulder against the door. Oiwa was the weaker of the two remaining Noguchi sisters.

"Nozomi…are you asleep?"

"It's three in the morning, Oiwa. Go to bed." It was Uji.

Oiwa's tiny footsteps were heard trekking further down the hall to her room. No doubt to feed Nozomi's paranoia.

* * *

Oddly enough, Tomiji didn't see her after school. She couldn't risk going near the U.A campus, not when her sisters were acting suspiciously around her. They didn't mention what she might have seen last night and Nozomi bit her tongue. To her surprise, her lunch wasn't poisoned with Kiyohime's disease-laced spittle. Their silence made her wonder why she didn't have a knife stuck in her spine.

Nozomi instead went somewhere rather unconventional. In a while, she stood outside a music shop, gazing at the most beautiful guitar her eyes laid upon. Once upon a time, she had one. It was made of plain oak and had more of a twang than she liked. She was careful not to play it in the house, not where her sisters could hear it. Then one day it disappeared and was found underneath the tires of Uji's van. She didn't bother picking up a new one even though that she saved enough money to buy more than one.

The gorgeous thing sat in the shop window without a buyer for three months. Made of mahogany and rosewood, it had a glorious sunburst in the middle of its face. The hummingbird decal struck Nozomi the most with its blue and green feathers. Its polished shine blinded anyone who stared too long at it. Nozomi pressed her gloved hands against the glass just for the chance of being within the guitar's proximity. Call her Icarus because she was standing too close to the sun. The only pity was that she couldn't take it home with her out of fear that something so beautiful would just end up in the garbage. That would be the greatest shame.

As she stared hopelessly at the guitar in the window, Nozomi did not see a friendly face approaching her side.

"Noguchi?"

She jumped out of her skin at the sound her name. Nozomi grasped at her chest as her heart started pounding away. Midoriya crept up on her without meaning to. His face immediately to one of concern.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." He apologized.

Nozomi looked up and down the street. The coast was clear of her sisters. For now.

"H-how can I help you?" Her fingers twitched around her school.

"I didn't see you walking home. I know your school isn't far from UA. I was kind of worried when you didn't walk by the campus."

Nozomi bit the inside of her cheek while she tried to come up with an excuse. "I-I didn't want to be a distraction. You guys are trying to become pro heroes. People like me just get in the way."

She tried to be sneaky. She tried to be discreet. Her eyes wandered the street trying to find one of her sisters or even Uji's van driving by. Midoriya, unfortunately, was a perceptive young man. She should have known better.

"Are you…looking for someone, Noguchi?"

"Hm? What? N-no. I'm not looking for someone…"

"Listen, Noguchi, there's something I've been meaning to ask you. If you give me a chance, I'd like to help." Midoriya's face became quite serious.

Nozomi's teeth chomped down and broke the skin. Her tongue tasted copper.

"I-I'm not going to beat around the bush." His hands clenched around the straps of his backpack. "Are you being abused at home?"

Blood drained from her face as her eyes flew open wide. Why was Midoriya, a guy she barely knew, the only one to ask her point blank? Certainly, there were teachers and coaches who suspected as much, but without her confirmation they couldn't do much. Midoriya was the first person who asked. The fact that he guessed correctly both thrilled her and put dread in her heart.

"I know we don't know much about each other, but I have a feeling that you've been trying to reach out to somebody. I can understand if you're scared. I just wanted you to know that if you need help, if you want to get out, you can tell me. I'll help you. I'm training to be a hero and this is what I believe to be right. I want to help you."

Tears welled up in her eyes. His conviction, his stern yet courageous face, his stance. Midoriya was offering the exact thing she had been building towards. Nozomi had to fight back the tears welling up. She shouldn't cry but he couldn't know how desperately she wanted to.

"M-Midoriya, it's not that simple. They have connections. They'd find me no matter what and drag me back home. My half-sisters wouldn't let me walk away, not with how much I know. You need to make sure that you have the power to back up your promises."

"I want to help you," he repeated with the same strong conviction. "I'm going to help you. That is my promise to you."

Nozomi swallowed hard. Midoriya was bound and determined to fulfill his promise, no matter how foolhardy it sounded. She wished that it could be as simple as he thought it. It must be nice to be that naïve. She knew too much for her sisters to let her go or live with the kind of information she had on them. That didn't include everything Akane knew either. There several diary entries that suggested or implied even more criminal activities the Four Horsemen were involved in.

"I-I…"

"I can arrange a meeting with a pro. You can tell him what's been done to you and we'll help you get away from your sisters. Please, let me help you!"

She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, blood pumping hard. Relief and dread swirled around in her gut and stirred up her stomach contents. She couldn't tell whether she wanted to hug him or throw up.

"L-let me thing about it. Okay?"

* * *

Izuku didn't know how long he would wait. He didn't wait very long. Later that night, after sneaking out, he met with All Might for a brief training session. He was sweating profusely and his legs would barely drag him back home, but despite his exhaustion, Izuku remembered his promise.

"All Might," he said between breaths.

"What is it, my boy?"

"If…if there was a person I knew who was in trouble and she didn't know how to get out of it, is there a way you could help her?"

All Might stroked his chin as he thought.

"That depends. What sort of trouble is she in?"

"There's this girl who walks by the school. I've hung out with her enough times to suspect that she's being abused at home. I think she's been trying to reach out to some of us at UA. She might be hurting herself."

"That is quite serious. Has she contacted the police?"

"I don't think she can. She's terrified of her sisters. Says that they have connections—"

"I don't like the sound of that, Midoriya. It sounds like her sisters could be villain."

"Which is all the more reason to help her?" Izuku raised his voice. "She's scared everything, especially of them. She's cutting herself and wants to escape. She's desparate."

All Might balked. If Midoriya was right, then there was only way thing for them to do.

"What's her name?" He asked his young successor.

"Nozomi Noguchi," Izuku answered.

The name, more specifically the surname, made All Might pause. Noguchi? For a moment, he wondered where he heard it before. For some reason, the name brought to mind red horns and black suits. No, it couldn't be _that _Noguchi.

"I'll see what can be done to help this girl," he said finally.

"Wha—? You really meant it, All Might!"

"Of course, my boy!"

If only the Symbol of Peace knew just how complicated helping one teenage girl would actually be.


	6. Chapter 5

Sorry about the super short chapter. I have other things planned out, but I wanted to explore the current antagonists a little bit. There's not a lot of character development I'm afraid. I promise I have more plotted out.

* * *

Uji's black beat-up van turned right. The new neighborhood was lined with other beat-up cars and businesses that had bars over the windows. Kiyohime read the directions off the GPS on her phone.

"Turn left up here. Not _here_. The next one."

Boxes of equipment and bags of trash rattled in the back. Oiwa clung to the wall for dear life as she was shuffled and thrown and tossed about. She kicked a plastic bag full of empty soda cups away from. She sneered at the unhygienic chaos of her sister's car.

"You need to get a new car," Oiwa grumbled.

"I _like _this car." Uji glared at her sister through the rearview mirror.

"You're driving around in a garbage truck!"

It took only a minute before the sisters were at each other's throat. Kiyohime used every bit of her authority to keep Uji focused on the road. Uji turned left then right and then right again.

"It'll be on the right," said Kiyohime, eyes never leaving the screen.

"My right or your right?"

"Mine."

Uji followed the directions and pulled up to a plain brick building. Its façade did not stand out from all the others. It was unspeakably plain. The Noguchi Sisters piled out of the car. Uji grabbed one of the large brief cases from the back and lugged it beside her as they approached the building. Kiyohime knocked. She only removed her doctor's mask when the door swung open. A tall man with bulging muscles answered. He sneered at the three of them though he gaze tended to fix somewhere on their bodies.

"We have an appointment. Or rather you have an appointment with us," said Kiyohime.

"You guys rang for IT support?" Uji half-way lifted the brief case in her hand.

The door closed on them briefly. It opened again, but this time the lackey opened the door wide for them to pass.

"I thought only one of you was coming?" He said.

"We have other business here," Kiyohime answered for the group.

Uji was led away upstairs by a spindly, spider-like man with four extra appendages coming out of his back. Oiwa and Kiyohime both made their way to the bar. Tending it was a strange figure. A human male's torso dressed in a well-pressed purple vest, however where his head and hands should be was swirling black smoke. Kiyohime sat down at the bar, but then Oiwa changed her mind at the last minute. She secluded herself at the other end of the bar and pulled out a book from her shoulder bag.

"The Noguchi Sisters, or should I call you the Four Horsemen? I haven't heard from you lot in just over two years," said the bar tender.

"_Three _Horsemen. No thanks to Endeavor," Kiyohime corrected him.

"Can I get you a drink?"

Kiyohime dug into her purse and pulled out a cardboard box. Inside that box was a shot glass, which she set down on the counter.

"Rum. Your strongest, Kurogiri." She nudged the shot glass over to him.

He went to fetch the bottle and filled her shot glass.

"Are you germaphobic?" He asked, a little insulted.

But he didn't know better.

"Hardly. It's not other people's germs I'm worried about. It's mine you should be afraid of. You're forgetting my quirk. I'd hate for you to run the risk of contamination."

"Plague. That's right. I must have confused you with one of your sisters. You must admit, you look a little alike."

Kiyohime drained the shot glass in one go and pushed it back towards Kurogiri.

"While I have your ear, there's something I must ask. I know you have your employer's—master's—ear, so there is a favor I have to ask of him. I wouldn't ask him if I wasn't backed into a corner."

"Money troubles?"

Kiyohime burst out laughing and it wasn't the rum doing the job. It would take a lot more than a single shot to produce that kind of reaction from the eldest of the Noguchi Sisters. She wiped a tear from her eye before reaching for her now-filled glass. She didn't drink the whole thing at once but sampled it this time.

"No. We have no need to worry about money. However, we're planning a trip up north and we have no one to watch our dearest baby sister for a week. I'd let her come, but she certainly isn't made for the job and I don't want to run the risk of her sneaking away."

"How old is she?" Asked Kurogiri.

"Fifteen. The little thing can't be trusted alone. I don't know what to do with her. Another, please."

Kurogiri sighed as he filled her shot glass again. Pink was starting to show in her cheeks and the tip of her nose.

"Would it not be easier for you in the long run to _get rid _of her?"

Kiyohime sneered. "I wish it was that easy. Unfortunately, darling Dad has her on his No-Kill List and would be very put out if something were to happen to her." Her lips curled into a snarl; her eyes narrowed with rage none Kurogiri saw before. "Not a priviledge he grants to any of his other bastards, including us."

"I see. What would you have the master do for you?" Kurogiri started wiping the area around Kiyohime's spot at the bar.

"I need a place to stash her for a week. Somewhere guarded and where she can't easily escape. She has a lot of information on us, you know. It would be a pity if she somehow managed to run away and go to the police. Like I said, I don't trust her to be alone. And…there's money in it. I don't expect anything to be free, of course. I am my father's daughter after all."

"How is he doing, by the way?"

Kiyohime chuckled. "Still in prison I'm afraid. Though there's talk of transferring him to an island prison. They're shocked and awed by what he manages to arrange while locked up. He's been in solitary confinement for the past five years now."

A few hours later, Uji descended from the stairs. Kiyohime staggered to the car, face red from the alcohol. At least she remembered to take her shot glass with her. They arrived home to find Nozomi where they left her. Locked in her room and doing her homework.

"You didn't call anyone, did you?" Asked Kiyohime.

"N-No," Nozomi stuttered.

"Good. It would be a pity to punish you so soon after the last time. How are your arms feeling?" She didn't ask out of concern. All she needed to know was if Nozomi caused nerve damage or if she contracted an infection.

"T-They're fine. I've been ch-changing the bandages myself."

Kiyohime walked into the room without an invitation. She didn't need one, it was her house. She glanced around with her mostly drunk stare. There was a bed, a dresser, and a desk. Clothes were neatly folded out of sight. The remaining space was dedicated to Nozomi's hoarding problem. One couldn't walk very far without bumping into a stack of books piled on the floor. Kiyohime placed her hand on Nozomi's head and ran her fingers through her hair.

"We'll be going north for a week. I'm trying to arrange a place for you to stay somewhere here. My sisters and I have something special for Yurei's anniversary. It would be a shame for you to miss it, but I don't know if I can trust you. You'll be a good girl, won't you?"

Nozomi nodded. "Y-yes…"

Kiyohime smacked her upside the head. "And stop stammering. It's unattractive."

* * *

Since I have you here, I'd like to share some interesting information with you guys. You'll note that the names of the Four Horsemen, Nozomi's sisters, have rather strange names. I came across some Japanese legends during the research process.

Kiyohime can mean 'calm princess' or 'quiet princess' depending on the translation, but more accurately her name is taken from the legend of Kiyohime. According to most versions of the story, Kiyohime was the daughter (or widow) of a village headman. She fell in love with a monk, and when that didn't work out in her favor, she turned into a snake/dragon and killed him. I picked this name for her because it sounds a bit imperious just like the eldest sister and because despite her beauty, she is quite hideous by both moral standards and in terms of her quirk.

Uji is named after another Japanese legend. A woman prayed to a god to turn her into an ogre so that she could kill her husband, the woman he fell in love with, and their families. She spent 21 days bathing in the river, plaiting her hair into horns, and painting herself red before her wish was granted. Besides her intended targets, those who saw her visage died as well. This legend's name spoke to my character's violence and aggressive personality.

Oiwa is also named after a legend about a scorned woman. A woman married a masterless samurai, but one day he decides to get rid of her so that he could marry a rich man's daughter. To do this, he sent Oiwa poisoned medicine. Unfortunately for him, the poison failed to kill her and left her scarred and hideous. Upon discovering her new deformity, she accidentally kills herself on a sword (that somehow happened to be sitting around? ). Her ghost appeared in front of the bride, tricking the husband into seeing Oiwa's face and not his bride. He did the most rational thing he could think of and beheaded her in his fear. Oiwa then proceeded to haunt him for the rest of his days. This one reminded me about the long term effects mental illness can have on a person. Since her quirk is basically driving people to insanity and cause them to develop mental illnesses.

Yurei is an easy one. Yurei is a dead spirit, a ghost if you will. Yurei's quirk was raising the dead, but since she's dead, her character arch and development is pretty closed. There's going to be hints thrown in once in a while, but I have no intention of writing her a chapter or time-traveling.


	7. Chapter 6

She stretched and yawned in bed. The muscles in her back ached from letting Nozomi hunch over her books too long. Akane groaned inwardly that she let her fall asleep a little later than she liked. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Akane popped her neck. She flipped on the lamp by the bed and stood up to stretch some more. It was the same body they shared, but it took more effort for Akane to get up. Switching back and forth hurt her muscles and bones.

As quietly as she could, she laid on the floor for some pushups, pull ups, and sit ups. She learned and excelled at the art of being sneaky when she needed to be. That was why the Noguchi Sisters never found the diary, among other things. If they peaked into Nozomi's room now, they would not like what they saw. After breaking a little sweat, Akane tip-toed to the bathroom. Unlike Nozomi, she was fit. She was a bit thin, but she was lean with muscle. Her features were just as sharp, only not because of lack of food. Whenever Nozomi forgot to eat, Akane made up for it late at night. And always without the sisters ever finding out.

Akane had quite a few tricks up her sleeves.

Returning to the bedroom, Akane arranged a wig stand with a black wig attached to it on the bed. She added pillows and finished it off with a blanket on top of it all. In the dark, her sisters wouldn't take a second look unless they wanted to put in the extra effort. They would never know the difference.

From the depths of the closet, Akane carefully pulled out a small duffle bag. It had all her gym equipment plus some iron-rich snacks and vitamins. Nozomi didn't know how to take of her body when she was the one in charge. Her sisters made her too terrified to care what happened to it.

It was the medication that did them in, Nozomi and Akane. Akane wasn't sure what chemicals went into the drug and only knew that she was created from some split in Nozomi's mind. Sometimes she wondered how many DID sufferers had personalities who were aware that they were alters? Probably none if she had to take a guess. Whether she was the result of a traumatic experience or the medication the Noguchi Sisters forced down Nozomi's throat, she might never know. Sometimes, she thought it was better if she didn't know.

Akane walked out of her room and softly closed the door. She paused to listen. Uji was snoring. Loudly. The other two were sleeping as well. She tip-toed past Uji's room that reeked of booze and cigarette smoke.

She jimmied the front door without clicking the front lock. Once on the outside, she fixed the door. No one would have guessed that she locked and unlocked the door without the house key. Akane fixed her shoes on her feet on the porch to avoid making more sounds than necessary in the house. Smiling to herself at three A.M, Akane broke into a run, duffle bag strapped to her back.

Was she running away at last?

Unfortunately, not yet.

When she arrived at her destination, it was half an hour later. She panted for breath as she entered a twenty-four gym. It was a squalid former warehouse outfitted with a boxing ring, punching bags, weights, and a single treadmill sequestered in the corner. The man who owned the place saw a market for late night gym rats and amateur heroes to get a good work out before heading home. What he didn't expect was Akane walking into his establishment. The first time she tried entering, he turned out.

Tossed her out, more precisely. She could still feel the stung on her backside from when she landed on the cold hard concrete. That didn't stop her from coming back the next night, and the night after that, and the night afterwards. She kept coming until he agreed. Mr. Hogai, the owner and manager, gave up. He tried everything to get her to stop coming until he saw the scars.

_Stay as long as you want, kid. But I want cash up front_.

He may have taken a pity on her because of the marred skin, but that didn't mean he forgot he ran a business. Akane handed him his small wad of cash every month on time, including tonight. The gym smelled of smelly socks, cheap cigars, and stale energy drinks.

In the right lighting, Akane looked slightly older than she was. With her fit body and old scars, no one bothered to ask for her age, although she came close to getting caught once or twice. Because of her loyalty and prompt payment, Mr. Hogai was nice enough to lie through his teeth for her, claiming to be her uncle. Whenever he covered for her, they exchanged a knowing glance at each other before Akane returned to her workout. Given how much frustration, anger, and hatred built up inside her while she sat on the sidelines in Nozomi's head, it wasn't difficult to tell that the sandbags were her favorite. Her form wasn't perfect, yet. It will be some day, she assured herself, then Nozomi's sisters would never lay a hand on her again. She kept at it for an hour. Kicking, punching, swinging until her arms shook with effort. Wiping sweat from her brow, Akane drank an entire water bottle in one go before calling it a night. On her way home, she grabbed a quick breakfast to replenish. If anyone saw her eat, nobody would have guessed that she and Nozomi shared the same body.

Akane jogged home immediately after paying. She snuck in just before the crack of dawn. She would have Nozomi shower later. Her body ached, though it was a good kind of ache. The satisfying kind of ache after a really good workout and the sense that she can only get stronger.

As she crawled under the covers, muscles screaming at her, Akane fell asleep with a smile on her face. A job well done.

* * *

Nozomi groaned when she woke up. She slammed her hand on her alarm clock, but it felt like her arm was tied to a millstone. She stared at the ceiling and wondered how she was going to get up. Her body…what was wrong with her body?

Nozomi craned her neck. None of her limbs were strapped to the bed like a new torture method by her sisters. She wiggled her toes and fingers. Peeling away the blankets, Nozomi gasped. On top of her numerous scars, there were now bruises. They varied in size, but they looked fresh. Their dark purple and green color was stark against her pale skin. There were bruises on her arms too.

Getting out of bed felt like she was trying to carry an armload of boulders. Her legs did not move as she wanted them too. Her knees knocked together as she slowly made her way to the bathroom. A hot shower soothed some of the aches and pains, though she wondered why she felt like she'd been run over by a truck. Her sisters were interested why she was moving so slow but didn't see the bruises. Nozomi quickly excused herself and hoped that by the end of the day this morning would be completely forgotten by them.

She kept her head down as she walked past the U.A campus. When she arrived at her own, no one seemed to notice or care that every movement was a painful effort. It proceeded as usual without anything extraordinary. Nozomi fought hard not to nod off in her classes, but by the end of the end she was about to pass out on her feet. Her head throbbed. All she wanted to do was make it home and collapse in bed.

Nozomi waited for her peers to clear out before she started for the school's gate. The sun was too bright; traffic was too loud. The little voice in her head was quiet as if asleep for once. Everything hurt.

She jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Nozomi yelped loudly, making other pedestrians stare at her from across the street. She turned and found Tomiji standing before her. Immediately, her face turned red.

"T-Tomiji?"

"Nozomi, are you alright?" He asked.

Her throat closed. She couldn't say the words. Instead, she nodded her head.

"You look exhausted and in pain. Did something happen to you?"

She cursed him for being too observant. One of these days he was going to figure out what was going on at home. He put himself in more danger the closer he grew. If he wasn't careful, her sisters might kill him.

"I-I'm fine. Really." Her reassurance doesn't convince him.

Tomiji leans in close to her face. Too close as a matter of fact. Their faces were so close together it looked like they were about to kiss. Tomiji focused his dark eyes on hers. The fearful determination she found in them shook her core. He wasn't just Tomiji the high school student, he was Tomiji the young man determined to find out what she was hiding.

"Did someone hurt you?" He asked in a low voice.

"N-no. Why…why would you ask such a silly thing? Everything is fine. Really it is!" She smiled though everything below her eyebrows throbbed and ached.

She just wanted him to get away from her. Or pull her close so she could sob into his chest. Her knees wobbled. What was this boy doing to her?

Nozomi moved to brush past him, but Tomiji grabbed her wrist. Her heart thundered.

"Nozomi, please," Tomiji practically begged. "Tell me what's wrong."

Nausea upset the lunch sitting in her stomach. She wrenched her hand free from Tomiji. He stared at her. Normally, she wouldn't have been able to do that. Tomiji was a physically fit and active teenage boy. Nozomi was made of twigs loosely held together by string and maybe some gum.

Before he could stop her, Nozomi turned on her heel and started running. Tomiji ran after her. Nozomi dove in and out of the growing crowds heading home in the afternoon. She spent a life time dodging other people's quirks; it was easy to weave through teeming hordes of people. Tomiji would know what to do. He would know who to call. He could protect her.

Which was why she ran.

She never realized just how much danger she was putting him in just by being so close. If he tried to save her, her half-sisters would just find her and kill him. They would do it in front of her for the kicks. That was the kind of people they were.

Nozomi never believed she had the stamina to run all afternoon, but she did. She lost him after the first couple of blocks when he lost track of her in the heavy pedestrian traffic. Her body kept moving of its own free will until she finally collapsed by the river. She skidded to a stop and fell face first into the pavement. Nobody was around to see it. Blacking out for a moment, Nozomi came to and struggled to get back to her feet. Her vision blurred but she could make the outlines of a bench nearby. She staggered up, limped her way over, and collapsed again.

Bits of gravel stuck in her cheek, Nozomi gently wiped her face. The tiredness of her body finally caught up to her. She didn't nod off, but she was too tired to get move again. She sat and watched the river slowly trickle through the canal. The afternoon sun sank deeper into the sky. Until the skies were an orange hue did Nozomi even consider removing herself from the bench where she got good and comfortable. The quiet settled her rabid, rampant thoughts. Silence was good.

Before picking herself off the bench, Nozomi heard footsteps come behind her. Her meditation was murdered by the slow pace. Judging by the heaviness in each step, they belonged to a man. Her heart started pounding inside her chest again. Had her sisters finally decided to get rid of her?

No. She wouldn't be worth the effort or money paying an assassin to kill her.

Nozomi froze. Fight or flight both lost and her body caved. No matter how desperately she wanted to flee the scene like a scared criminal, she couldn't make her body do what she wanted.

A shadow appeared behind her. It was huge. A bulking silhouette with two antenna-like features poking upwards at the top.

_No_. _It can't be_…

* * *

"Nozomi Noguchi?"

_It was all she wanted. Nozomi saved and saved for a year in order to get it. She held the new, precious toy in her small gloved hands. Perhaps not what was typical for a girl, but she had to have it. An All Might action figure. Someone like him, a real hero, proved that there was still some good in the world. _

"_**What is this?" **__Kiyohime sneered. _

_Nozomi found the broken pieces of a plastic All Might on the kitchen floor and dumped into the garbage._

* * *

All Might sighed heavily. The profile in front of him established some of his worst fears. Izuku could be too trusting. The contents of the file were startling to say the least. According to them, Nozomi Noguchi didn't exist. She hadn't existed until ten years ago. But that wasn't all.

Digging further, it was revealed that she was taken in by her four half-sisters. On the outside, it seemed completely innocuous. Except for the fact those sisters also used fake names. Layer after layer there was a disguise, a new name, a fake biography. All to hide their real identities. The four half-sisters were deadly progeny of Hiei Akuma, a.k.a Mr. Satan, a notorious villain and head of an underground gang and black market. A man so powerful that he was still somehow pulling the strings of his organization after being behind bars for the last fifteen years.

Something did not sit right with him. Even though it was all true, that would have made Nozomi—or whatever her name was—about five years old when she was taken in by her half-sisters. There was no way she could be responsible for their actions and especially if what Izuku said was true about the abuse she endured all these years.

Rather than Izuku what he found, he persuaded Izuku help find her. All Might would need him to point her out in the crowd. When they did spy her running in the streets, it was almost too difficult to catch up. At long last, they were able to catch up to her.

Nozomi sat there silently. What was she up to? Just what made her run like a scared rabbit?

"All Might—"

Nozomi was so lost in her own headspace that she didn't hear him. But she did hear All Might walking towards. He said her name and she jumped out of her skin.

"A-All Might? W-What are you doing here?" Nozomi looked past All Might's impressive frame and glanced at Izuku not far behind him. "Midoriya, what's—"

"I heard you were having problems. I would like to help. If that's okay?"

_Okay_? Since when did All Might need permission to help someone?

"What…what do you mean? I-I don't understand. Midoriya, what's going on?" Asked Nozomi.

* * *

Her heart was pounding. Standing in front of her was All Might, Japan's greatest hero and the Symbol of Peace. This is what she wanted, right? Who better to turn to than the Symbol of Peace himself? She didn't know how Midoriya had convinced All Might or how he got him here, but a spark of hope blossomed in her chest.

There was still good. There were still people who cared. Tears threatened to burst the dam she built. It just seemed too good to be true.

"Young Midoriya tells me that you need help. Are you in danger at home?"

A tear trailed down her face. Someone finally asked the right question. Another tear followed and then another. Despite the flood of tears, Nozomi smiled.

"Y-Yes…"


	8. Chapter 7

I'm sorry this so short. Usually I try to shoot for 4000 words per chapter, but I honestly got lost in what this chapter was supposed to be or where it was going. I hope it's still good.

* * *

Oops. My bad, I uploaded the wrong chapter. This one should be right. Update: 1/13/2020

* * *

On a bench, in a part of town she wasn't familiar with, Nozomi recounted the numerous and horrible things her half-sisters did to her. A truncated biographical map of what she could remember. She saw Midoriya's face grow paler with each anecdote like how Yurei used the corpse of Nozomi's cat to torture her for a week then bury the remains in the backyard. Or how Uji liked to bring home guys and have loud sex with only a small hallway closet to separate their rooms. Or that time Oiwa rearranged the chemicals in her brain to make her suffer with paranoia for a week and just how often Kiyohime poisoned her meals with diseased spittle. Once she started talking, Nozomi couldn't stop. Like a dam had been opened and she couldn't stop the water from flooding even if she wanted to. She skipped over more explicit details, mostly because by the time her throat tightened up from all the talking, All Might was looking worse for wear. The sun had almost completely set beyond the city landscape. Despite the sense of trepidation thrilling her, Nozomi softly smiled, relieved as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Her body trembled all over and she wasn't sure if it was nerves or the dreadful fear that she said too much.

"Noguchi, you've…" She stopped Midoriya mid-sentence.

"Don't finish. I…I know what's been done to me. I know that I've survived this far because they like playing this twisted game, but I'm not done."

"Noguchi-chan, what are you thinking about," asked All Might.

Nozomi rose from the bench. She watched the river run past them. The skies bled into velvet night and the glimmer from far-off and faint stars started to show despite the city lights. Suddenly, everything felt new. Like she was listened to the hustle and bustle of the city for the first time.

"I need to do something. I'm just so…tired…of being on the sidelines, letting things happen. They're planning something. They've been sneaking around and plotting. If I can just—"

"It's too dangerous for you. Let's get you to a doctor who can treat you." All Might ground his teeth. Not because Nozomi finally got on his nerves but because he was running out of time. At any moment now his façade would deflate like a balloon.

Nozomi whipped around to face him. "I don't want a doctor. I want to stop whatever it is they're planning. Please, just give me a chance!"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, young lady." A familiar coppery taste filled All Might's mouth.

"Noguchi, your nose!" Midoriya was already running towards her with a hanky at the ready.

Nozomi thumbed her cupid's bow area and it came back red. Everything blacked out for a minute. Midoriya and All Might stood aghast as Noguchi's frail frame changed. Her body grew at least an inch taller, fat and muscle filled out where before she'd been nothing but skin over bone, and a pair of red horns sprouted and curved towards her skull. Her ears stretched to sharp points as well as her teeth. When she opened her eyes again, they were dark red with black slits. She was no longer hunched with her shoulders pulled inward but stood tall with her shoulders back and spine straight.

"N-Noguchi?"

All Might put his arm out to block or push Midoriya back. Nozomi, or rather Akane, had no intention of harming anyone. Her face was fixed into a stern mask, unyielding.

"Do you what it's like living with those monsters? Day and night, I get stuffed inside a box while this body endures immeasurable pain. All I hear is that we…I'll never amount to anything. I won't become a great villain like the scumbag who sired me or a hero because of the evil that's already a part of me. Even if I don't become anything, I want to be remembered as something more than just Hiei Akuma's daughter."

Midoriya jaw fell open. He'd heard of Hiei Akuma, a.k.a Mr. Satan, the Demon-King of the Underground. He was a villain who'd been in prison for fifteen years. Nozomi would have never met her father, and frankly, she would have been made worse if she had.

"I have dirt on them. I've been keeping this journal for the past couple of years now. Oiwa has been getting special deals with black market drug manufacturers to get her hands on Nophilozine. Uji's hacked multiple banks and their accounts to secrete them into an offshore account in her name. Kiyohime has been making backroom deals with our father's business partners. There's more," she dug through her bag and pulled out the diary. Holding it out to All Might in hopes that he would take it. "Lots more."

"You've been keeping a diary? Of everything they've been up to?"

"I had to. The other half of me is too weak and the medication that's been plunged into this body has distorted the memories. Only in the last couple of years has the Nophilozine stopped working completely."

All Might's brows furrowed. "They've been _giving _you that medication?"

Akane nodded. "I suspect for the sedative purposes, but you can honestly get morphine cheaper than black market anti-psychotics."

"And, uh, how do you know all this?" Asked Midoriya. This new side to Nozomi was different, albeit a little intimidating.

She shrugged. "I know things. You could say that 'the observer often sees more of the game than the players do.'"

"This is all well and good," All Might pushed the diary back towards her. "But I need you to think very hard. Your half-sisters are very dangerous individuals. You'll be on the front lines and there's no guarantee there'll be a pro on standby to help or save you. You're still just fifteen. You have a lot to look forward to."

"I won't have a lot to look forward to if I let them get away with whatever they're planning. I won't have a future if I'm trapped under their thumb. Let me do this."

Nozomi, or whoever this alter ego was, stared at All Might with a look of determination. Not haughty or self-assured. Not the least bit cocky. She pinned the grown man with a fierce look in her eye that she wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. She would've found a way to work around him in any case.

"Once you start, there might not be any turning back."

"But if it means having a better future then I'm more than willing to take that chance."

"Izuku Midoriya," said All Might.

Midoriya flinched at his name, surprised. "Y-yes?"

"You need to help Nozomi. She's going to need a go-between with her intel. Since her home and UA are close, it won't be hard to covertly collect information, right?" All Might then turned to Nozomi, "I hope you're prepared. This will be a lot of work and you'll have to be very clever. Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nodded. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

"There are some people I'd like for you to get in—" Before he could stop it or run and hide, All Might's impressive hero form deflated. Coughing up a small puddle of blood, he shrunk.

Nozomi stared blankly at All Might. Midoriya tried to explain the situation, but he couldn't find the right words.

"Please," he begged, "Don't tell anyone you saw this!"

Nozomi paused for a moment, taking in the sight of the Symbol of Peace being made so small and almost insignificant. She had the opportunity to tell the world of villains just what became of All Might, Japan's strongest hero. Unless her sisters tortured the information out of her first. It was information she now had.

"I'll keep your secrets if you keep mine. This isn't actually Nozomi, but an alter. I can't tell you when I was formed, but it's just how this body is now. Two personalities. If those women find out about me, it'll mean trouble. I'm not going to tell anyone what I saw."

Horns receded back into her skull. Her ears turned to normal. Blood dribbled down her nose again as her body shrank too. Nozomi was an inch shorter, hunched over, and without muscles. She was skinny like a waif again. She wiped the blood off with a tissue from her pocket. Her brows furrowed at the sight of the man in front of her and not knowing who he was.

"W-where's All Might?"

"He…uh…had to return to hero duties. Let, let me walk you home," said Midoriya.

At that, Nozomi's face turned ashen white. "No! If they see me with you, they'll kill you and make me cut myself again."

"You shouldn't walk home by yourself. It's getting pretty late. It'll get dark soon."

Unfortunately, Nozomi had already gathered her stuff and started booking it.

"I'm used to it!" She hollered back as she ran.

All Might was rather impressed with her speed. For someone so small and fragile, she could run pretty quick.

Nozomi glanced at her watch. It was about eight o'clock by the time she reached the front porch. She was panting for breath and her lungs felt like they were about to give out. Her hands were shaking as she inserted the house key into the lock. Nozomi entered the house as noiselessly as she possibly could. Judging by the laughter, she thought she returned home at a good time to be unnoticed. Taking off her shoes, Nozomi tip-toed into the house.

"There you are, brat!" Uji laughed.

On the couch with her was her latest boy toy, Koga. Oiwa and Kiyohime were there in the living room too. Each had a wine glass in their hands.

"Here I thought I was going to have to send out a search party." Kiyohime rose from her chair. Her glass had her name painted on it to prevent cross-contamination. "Where were you this evening? Not trying to talk to somebody you shouldn't, have you?"

Nozomi swallowed hard and shook her head. All she could do was hope that her face didn't betray her.

"Good, good. I wouldn't want anything to happen to my little sister." Kiyohime patted the top of Nozomi's head. "Now, there is something I need to tell you. We're going on a little a trip. The three of us that is. You're going to be looked after by some friends of ours."

It was then that Nozomi's face turned pale. Blood froze in her veins. Friends of her sisters were rarely, if ever, friends of hers.

"W-what friends would that be?"

"Never you mind about that. Just be sure to pack stuff the day after tomorrow. You'll need to keep yourself occupied for about a week."

"A-a week?" Nozomi stood baffled. What could they be doing that would take a week?

Then she remembered the date. Yurei's death was marked in a great big black circle on the calendar. Nozomi could see from the hallway. No wonder her half-sisters had been plotting. They were planning something _special_ to honor Yurei's memory. She was almost glad to miss it, but an overwhelming sense of trepidation filled her. Her guts twisted in on themselves. Conflicted, she didn't know whether she wanted to know what it was or if she should avoid knowing at all costs. She pitied the poor innocents who were surely going to get in the crossfire.

"You'll behave, won't you, Nozomi? It would be a shame if anything were to happen to you while we're gone." Kiyohime lowered her mask. A threat. "It would be such a shame if you caught something deadly."

"Y-yes. D-do my teachers know that I'll be absent for a week?"

"They will tomorrow. I have a note for you to give to your homeroom teach saying as much. You'll be a good girl and give it to him, right?"

What else could Nozomi do but nod? Kiyohime patted her on the head once more before allowing her to slink off to her bedroom. Nozomi locked her door. She climbed into bed with her clothes still on. Her body ached all over like she finished bench pressing a truck. Her legs were all but pudding as she pulled the sheets over her. She would take care of her pills in the morning. She was just too tired to move.

"Akane, what did you do?" Nozomi whispered.

_I'll tell you later._


	9. Chapter 8

Content Warning: Severe bullying. It's not the most graphic kind, but there are some people who might find the situation similar to something they've experienced and I wish to say how sorry I am that they found themselves in that situation.

On another note, there might be a title change in the future. The more I've thought about it, OC Nozomi has a significantly different quirk than the one I originally designed for her. Because of this change in narrative and plot point, the title no longer fits. Titles that I have come up with that resonate better with the overall theme and plot of this fanfic include but are not limited to:

1\. Horns (because of what you have already seen and the horns the other persona has might just become a plot point or character development point)

2\. Devil's Daughter (because her father's villain name is Mr. Satan and their relation will be a central theme of conflict both internally and externally)

Let me know what you think or if you have better titles than that.

* * *

Nozomi finished the last page in the diary. She closed it shut with a soft thud. There was so much more than what she anticipated. She looked at her hands, pale and bony. The blocks in her memory prevented her from remembering why or when she started covering her body and wore gloves. At first, it was an excuse to cover the scars. Her arms looked like scratching posts with layers on top of layers of scars. Some old and some new. But in the back of her mind, she wondered when she started doing that. The abuse was rarely physical before Yurei died. Mostly her half-sisters tormented her with psychological attacks or poisoning her food. They didn't start making her cut herself until two years ago. The clothes and gloves were forced upon her well before Oiwa manipulated her mind.

There was something dangerous about her quirk and it made her think of questions. Before now, it seemed futile. Asking about her quirk would just earn her another scar and awkward questions at school. For the first time in years, Nozomi asked herself what kind of quirk she had to begin with.

It was silly to think about. Most people knew what quirks they had. It was a no brainer. Given that she'd been drugged for most of her life and that her sisters weren't the most honest people in the world, how was she supposed to know how her powers worked? Come to think of it, she didn't remember how her quirk first manifested itself. As far as Akane's diary entries went, even she didn't know where they came from. It had been just a few days since Nozomi stopped taking the Nophilozine; her memories had yet to return to her. From what she could assess from Akane's diary, her real quirk was the reason why her sister's gave her the toxic medicine to begin with. With its known negative side effects, they took a gamble. If her quirk was enhanced by the Nophilozine, they would have tried to kill her on the spot. What was so dangerous about her quirk that made her sisters scared of it?

Dawn crawled up on her and she didn't sleep a wink. Nozomi wondered how she was going to make it through the day. Rising from her desk chair and stretching her arms, she prepared for school. She quickly changed, brushed her hair, and gathered her things before her sisters were out of bed. While she loved the idea of getting away from them for a week, the idea that she would be spending it with people she didn't know and were associates of her sisters did not bode well on her mood. She walked quickly to school but made a pitstop outside U.A where she waited patiently.

Midoriya didn't arrive until a little later. She waved him over and ducked around a corner.

"Noguchi, what's wrong?" He looked at her face. "You don't look so good. Are you okay?"

His face was wracked by worry. She couldn't blame him for the assumption. Nozomi had glanced at her reflection in a store window. The circles under her eyes were darker than yesterday.

"Don't worry about me. I have something to tell you and there isn't much time. It's about my sisters. I think they plan to do something on the anniversary of Yurei's death. I can't tell you what it is, but I know that they're going to do it next."

Midoriya's eyes flew wide for a moment as the horror set in.

"D-do you have any more details that that?" He asked.

Nozomi shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. I have a hunch that they're going to do it at the sight where she died. I wish I could tell you more but—"

"You should come with me then! You can tell All Might. He'll be able to inform the authorities and we'll keep you safe from them!"

"If I tell him now, my sisters _will_ find out it was me who snitched. They'll come and kill me. No questions asked. Besides, I'm a villain's daughter. They wouldn't believe a word coming out of my mouth even if it is true."

"That isn't true! You're so much more than your bloodline. You need to know that."

It would be a lie if she said that his words didn't spark something inside. She wanted it to be true; Midoriya couldn't imagine how badly she wanted it to be true. And if she continued being honest, entering UA had been nothing more than pipe dream. All Might already knew who she was, who sisters were, and what her father did. How far did Nozomi think she could get before someone realized whose blood ran in her veins? It was a nice dream though.

"Maybe someday I'll believe you, Midoriya. Right now, I just need you to go tell All Might that my sisters have something in store. Please, I need you to do that for me before it's too late," said Nozomi.

"What's this? Deku's finally got himself a girlfriend?"

Nozomi watched him flinch. She turned to the direction of the voice.

He stank of a bad attitude. His posture, diction, and cocky smile said it all. He wore the same uniform as Midoriya, but he didn't look the part with his fierce eyes and wild blonde hair.

"Kaachan, she's not my—"

Midoriya's classmate looked her up and down.

"Figured somebody weak like you would choose to date a skeleton."

Her fist tightened at her side. If it wasn't enough that her own classmates pointed out how skinny she was—through no choice of her own—then the last thing she needed was for Midoriya's rude classmate to talk down to her like that. A wave of fire washed over her. The blood in her veins became hot. She didn't have time to question this strange, overpowering sensation before her mouth opened and words spilled out.

"I'm not dating _Midoriya_. And you are very rude."

Midoriya's classmate turned. He pinned her to the spot with a deadly glare. His teeth were like razors when he spat out.

"What'd you say?"

_What am I doing? Who was that just now? _

'_Don't look at me,' _said Akane.

"Oi! If you got somethin' to say, say it now." The _illustrious _Kaachan stepped up to her.

No matter that she appeared more fragile than a spider's thread, he looked like he wanted to swing. He stood there snarling as he waited impatiently for her to say something. Nozomi knew that kind of face. She'd seen it many times before when Uji was drunk or frustrated or both. It took very little for her older sister to find some fault in her and use physical force to beat it out of her. Nozomi could count how many times Uji had broken a rib. Never an arm or a leg because that would make it conspicuous.

"Poor socialization skills. Bad manners. Problems with anger. And you're supposed to be a hero?"

Her knees wobbled. She gripped her school bag tight in both hands to hide the fact that her hands were shaking too. Nozomi lifted her chin. Her teeth chattered behind her closed mouth.

"What'd you say?" He growled, repeating himself.

"N-Noguchi don't say anything else. You're just upsetting him," said Midoriya.

"Why do you sound like you have battered wife syndrome? I've spent enough time with bullies and sociopaths at home. I'm not interested in dealing with more of them outside of that. As it is, I'll be late to school. I'll catch you later, Midoriya," said Nozomi.

She quickly glided past 'Kaachan' before he could do or say something worse. Nozomi crossed the street and started towards her own school. Her stomach was churning, and her heart was thumping. Her whole body was a jittering mess of nerves. She didn't know what was happening to her. She never spoke up like that before. Nozomi walked into her school's gate when realized what might have been happening. It had been just a few short days, but the Nophilozine was slowly working its way out of her system. Without it, her anxiety, which had plagued her for years, diminished. Apparently, so too did her inhibitions. She changed shoes and quickly walked into the girls' bathroom where she threw up. There was very little of her stomach contents to empty into the porcelain bowl, leaving the taste of sour bile in her throat.

The bathroom door thudded open while she washed her hands. Tama and her cronies entered. They seemed to forget why they were there in the first place as soon as they saw her at the sink. Nozomi quickly put her gloves back on and attempted to maneuver around them. Tama stuck her foot out, causing Nozomi to trip and fall. Nozomi picked herself up. Another wave washed over her. This time Nozomi bit down on her tongue and walked out of the bathroom before she could say something that would just get her beat up.

* * *

Rumor had it that Tomiji was looking for her. He stopped by her homeroom, but she had snuck out to borrow the home economics kitchen before anybody saw her steal ingredients for her lunch. She made sure not to take anything that would be missed and made it quickly. Nozomi ate in an empty stairwell.

She successfully avoided him all day. She snuck out through the back of the school rather than the front to continue avoiding him. Her little heart beat so loud in her chest. The tell-tale prick of guilt stung sharply. She didn't want to hurt him or avoid him. He was the first person who had ever been extraordinarily kind to her, but if her sisters found out about him, he was good as dead. Nozomi was working to bring them down from the inside. She couldn't afford to put him in further danger or get distracted by his pretty face.

However, because the route was slightly different, Nozomi had to find her way around. It was just unfortunate she ran into her least favorite people. She turned while trying to navigate the street. Who did she see? Tama and her twin cohorts. Nozomi couldn't fathom what she had done in this present life or in a previous one to deserve Tama's ire. She was no rival and according to everyone, she couldn't compete with Tama's curvaceous body that made boys drool. The fact that Tama knew this and continued bullying her made little sense except in the context of psychological complex.

"Hey there, Blackie!" Tama smirked.

Nozomi cringed at the terrible nickname. She tried to walk past them again only to be shoved back by Tama. The cohorts standing behind her giggled and Nozomi furrowed her brows like she missed the joke.

"Excuse me," she said.

Nozomi tried getting past them one more time. When she tried, Tama shoved her back harder. Except she pushed Nozomi hard enough to knock her back and make her fall on her butt. Fire surged through her blood after the impact on the sunbaked cement. She glared up at Tama who stood smiling down at her. Tama took two steps and pressed her foot on Nozomi's hand.

"Why do you even bother? Even if he is quirkless, he's way too pretty for you. Shouldn't you know that?"

"Are you talking about Tomiji?" Nozomi asked.

Tama sneered. The snakes in her hair writhed about and hissed angrily.

"I forgot. You're on a first name basis with each other. Ain't that _cute_."

Tama moved her foot just to bring it back down again. Nozomi moved her hand out of the way just in time. She rose to her feet before Tama had the brilliant idea of getting her ribs. Judging the disgusted look that made Tama a little less pretty, she had that in mind too. The snakes that made up Tama's hair writhed and pointed their heads in Nozomi's direction, hissing and baring their short fangs. It was said that Tama's snakes weren't deadly, but their venom could paralyze if one wasn't careful.

The words fell out of Nozomi's mouth without her meaning to.

"It sounds to me like you're jealous," she said.

Tama blanched with rage. Her eyes narrowed into menacing slits. The snakes of her hair hissed louder than ever.

"Why would I be _jealous_ of _you _and Quirkless Wonder? Somebody like him should be groveling at my feet! Instead, he's trying to play house with a stick figure like you. It makes me sick."

Nozomi couldn't get far with the three of them chasing her. She made it around the corner to a cross walk that just turned red. A crashing wave of anxiety knocked her senses as she tried to swim through the suffocating crowd of pedestrians. Tama and her cronies were not far behind.

No civilian stopped to notice something wrong. If they did, they did nothing. Nozomi would have cursed humanity for the lapse of compassion if Tama hadn't grabbed her by both shoulders and shoved her.

She supposed as gravity tore her down that Tama's intent wasn't necessarily to shove her into oncoming traffic. She supposed Tama only meant to knock her to the ground and narrowly miss getting hit by a car.

Neither of which happened.

Perhaps if Nozomi hadn't somehow managed to keep her balance and fell on the side walk, she would have avoided it. She was shoved into the middle of the road by Tama's force. She barely had time to see the car coming, speeding towards her.

Where was a hero when you needed one?

None of the crowds seem to spot one. There were gasps of horror as the car came towards her with no stopping.

Nozomi dropped her school bag and put her arms up to guard her face. Her eyes slammed shut as she braced for impact. Then, she felt lighter than air. She barely heard gasps from the pedestrians watching the beautiful disaster, but it was like she had her head under water. She felt something plow through her. Like wind between her fingertips. She cracked open her eyes to see her school bag lying on the road a few feet below her.

The car screeched to a halt behind her. Nozomi turned to look and expected to see her crumbled body on its blood-splattered hood. But no. The driver and passengers got out of the car and came towards her. They looked around the road and scratched their heads in confusion. Nozomi floated down. Her feet touched solid ground again and she became solid. She let out a grunt when her knees gave out and fell directly into the round. Nausea churned her stomach. She held her stomach as sour bile rose in her throat.

The driver helped her up and move her to the curb. Tama and her friends disappeared into the crowd before anyone could catch them. Suddenly, the crowd parted on one side of the street.

"What seems to be the problem here?" Asked a familiar voice.

Miss Joke looked so much different in her hero uniform. She calmly walked past the pedestrians to get to the scene.

"Some girls pushed her into the road. Thank goodness her quirk activated," said a pedestrian.

"I swear I didn't see her coming!" The driver pleaded.

Nozomi heard Miss Joke approach her next. She doubted Miss Joke would have recognized her from a few nights ago.

"Hey kiddo. Long time no see!" Miss Joke sat down beside her on the curb. "Now would you mind telling me what's going on? Did someone push you into the street?"

Gone was Miss Joke's lightness. She was serious about getting to the bottom of this. Something twisted in Nozomi's gut. Her sisters taught her to always lie to a hero but considering how much she blabbed to the flipping Symbol of Peace, dishonesty would have been a moot point. On the other hand, what good would it do to tell a pro about a petty schoolgirl squabble? Even if it did almost end her life.

"I-I lost my balance. That's all," said Nozomi.

Miss Joke sighed. "You're not a very good liar, you know that? By the sounds of it, people saw you being chased and one of those girls shoved you into oncoming traffic. I'm going to make sure that they don't come near you again."

"Why bother? They'll just get a slap on the wrist. Then the next time they push me into the street, they'll make sure I get hit."

"I'm not going to let that happen. They could have seriously hurt you or gotten you killed and I'm not about to rest until they see the justice they deserve. You might have known them. Could you tell me their names?"

Nozomi bit the inside of her cheek. She pulled her legs to her chest and buried her face in her knees for a second. She thought she heard an ambulance siren. Now, she didn't care whether her sisters caught her. Nozomi was thinking too hard about what a perfect opportunity it was to turn them in. She had a pro-hero sitting next to her on a curb. She had Miss Joke's full attention. Nozomi could say anything and All Might would verify the confession as well as the scars all over her body.

But her head started pounding; it was throbbing. The sound of the ambulance siren grew louder and louder. Nozomi clapped her hands over her ears to cover the sound of the approaching siren.

"Hey kid, are you alright?" Asked Miss Joke.

To Nozomi, it sounded like her head was under water. Suddenly, everything sounded like her head was held down. She looked up and around. Miss Joke and bystanders had shocked faces. Nozomi realized what had happened. This time she focused on making it stay long enough to make a clean break.

It was like swimming, passing through solid objects and people. If only she discovered it sooner, she would never need to attract the attention of a pro-hero. Nozomi moved as this transparent, intangible thing through the crowds until she found a familiar street. By the time she dropped this new-found quirk, her body gave way to violent tremors. She kneeled on the ground with her knees digging into the concrete. Grabbing a lamppost, Nozomi pulled herself off the ground. After licking her lips, she tasted copper with a bit of iron. She wiped her upper lip and nose and her hand came away splotched with blood. Nozomi made the long trek home, made worse by the invisible weights shackled to her body. By the time she reached the house, it was dark out. She narrowly escaped into her bedroom to start packing as Kiyohime told her to that morning. Nobody checked to make sure she took her pill that night.

* * *

Bags of clothes and books were haphazardly tossed into the back of Uji's trash-strewn van. With a blindfold tied tight around her eyes, Nozomi tried not to think about where they intended to take her. Kiyohime suggested that if she didn't like the blindfold, they could have just given her a double dose of Nophilozine. Nozomi chewed on the inside of her mouth; they hadn't realized yet that she already gone nearly a week without her 'medicine.' Pretending to still be on it was the hardest part. Her shaking hands were artificial, and she forced herself to stammer. So far, none of them grew wise to her deception.

_Just hold out a little while longer_, she told herself. _Just a while longer._

Then she could be free of them for good.

And to her knowledge, they didn't know about the incident of the other day. They didn't ask why she was home late or how she ended up with a bloody nose. If she hadn't been hanging around any heroes, they could care less. Nozomi didn't dare ask them where they were taking her. She clung to the sides of the van as Uji drove them to their destination. The drive took les time than Nozomi expected. She was surprised that it only took thirty to forty minutes. She could still hear heavy traffic and pedestrians walking along concrete pavements, so they hadn't even left the small city. The blindfold remained on as Kiyohime guided her to a building and pushed her through the door.

Blinded, Nozomi couldn't tell where to put her feet. She tripped easily. Landing face first into the ground, her tongue licked the floor and tasted the faintest hint of booze. Nozomi quickly pulled herself to her knees. A little blood blossomed on bruised lip.

"You can take the blind off now, brat," said Uji.

Nozomi made a show of her shaking hands while taking off the blindfold. Instead of a musty old building or an abandoned warehouse, she was planted on the floor in the middle of a bar. There were many empty chairs and tables, but those patrons who bothered to look up from their drinks stared at her like a circus freak. None of them looked like pleasant fellows. The man behind the bar finished cleaning his glass tumbler and slowly made his way towards her. He was a tall man. Or perhaps that was an illusion made by the black smoke swirling around where his head should have been.

"Kurogiri, let me introduce you to my baby sister, Nozomi. She's not much to work with, but she won't cause you any trouble." Kiyohime gave her a soft nudge in her ribs. "Right, Nozomi?"

Nozomi nodded her head. She got to her feet just as the gentleman named Kurogiri brushed past her. Kiyohime handed him a wad of cash, a few thousand yen. Probably more than that.

"Where will you going? In case something should happen?"

"Let's just say it's going to be a little…road trip. Not too far, but should something go horribly wrong, and it shouldn't, I've got the burner phone here." She slid Kurogiri a business card. "We should be back on Sunday. Any longer than that, I'll arrange for one of my father's lackey's to pick her up. Will that be a problem?"

"I think I can manage one teenage girl," said Kurogiri.

"If starts to be a pain or causes trouble, just lock her in a dark closet. That got her to shut up very quickly when she was younger." Uji chuckled.

"Noted."

Nozomi felt the blood drain from her face. She carried her own bags as her half-sisters were already out the door. Kurogiri led her up a set of rickety stairs. She kept her head down to avoid looking at anyone. Her room was at the end of the corridor. The window in the hallway faced a nondescript brick building. Even if she managed to escape, there was no certainty she'd find her way to safety before someone caught her. He showed her the bathroom and the single bedroom. There was a bed, a desk, and a laundry basket. No radio or television. The bed was nothing more than cot that groaned when she sat down on it. Kurogiri shut the door on his way out.

She sat on the bed, sitting still with her hands gripping the mattress. Her eyes stared at the wall. The windows were barred preventing easy escape. But maybe she didn't want to escape that badly. She noted the exits, windows, and how many steps were on the staircase as precautionary. Nozomi got little sleep the night before, not because she spent most of it packing her bags. The day before she was almost killed but only survived because a latent part of her quirk activated. For years, she thought her quirk was just a mimicry quirk, like her father's. She accidentally used it once or twice and made sure never to let her sisters find out that she did. The one time they did, she was locked in a closet with one of Yurei's projects for three days.

Now it was a matter of gaining control of something very useful. Intangible and invisible while still retaining her everything on her person, was this the quirk that her sister's feared she used? Another question remained: where did it come from? Her quirk relied on being around other people and touching them. As far she knew, she never met a person who had such a quirk. Nozomi still had her phone but decided against the risk of one of her sisters looking into her search history. Questions to be answered later. Perhaps when she wasn't under her sisters' thumbs.

Nozomi removed her gloves. Her fingers were long and petite like spider legs. The tips of her fingernails had small white indentions where she nibbled on the ends for years. It was a disgusting habit she tried to break, hence the gloves. Without the Nophilozine ramping her anxiety to a million, there was an odd sense of calm. However, it was the kind of calm before the storm. She honestly had no idea what the side effects of withdraw would be like. So far, difficulty sleeping seemed the worst of it, yet she guessed that there was more to it than that. Nophilozine acted more like a street drug than a prescription medication. She mentally prepared for the worst.

She stared at her hand. Closing her eyes, she imagined the car incident. In her mind's eye, she saw the vehicle speeding towards her. She even saw the surprised face of the driver through the windshield as he tried slamming on the breaks before it was too late. She tried capturing that split second it took for her body to realize that she was in mortal danger and used her hidden quirk to survive. Her brain remember the exact moment of terror and dread as the memory spurned the car forward. Nozomi latched onto the spider-web thin thread of the split second when her quirk activated. She grabbed it and held on.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. When she grabbed onto that thread in her mind, Nozomi thought about her left pinky. She saw it turning invisible in her mind's eye. When she opened them, her finger was gone. She pinched the air where her pinky should have been. There was only a stub on her hand like an old wound. Nozomi closed her eyes again and envisioned her pinky returning to normal. She opened her eyes and it did. A small smile crept on her face. Her mouth almost ached with the strain. She couldn't remember the last time she was this happy and excited.

Her sisters made the bad choice of leaving her with too much time on her hands.


	10. Chapter 10

Content Warning: While nothing is explicit, be aware that there is some very strong implications of child abuse. Further warning, mentions of blood and potential trauma.

* * *

During the first day, Nozomi worked on turning her hand intangible, one finger at a time. She turned her pinkie first, ring finger, etc. She didn't stop practicing until her whole hand disappeared. Looking at her arm, Nozomi expected to see bone and flesh from where her hand disappeared at the wrist. To pleasant surprise, what was left was a flesh colored stump. The visualization was simple enough. All she needed to do was grasp the thread in her mind while she focused on the body part, she wanted to turn intangible. By the end of the first day, she could make both hands disappear and reappear at will. It wasn't as if she didn't have all the time in the world cooped up in the plain room above the bar. Left to her own devices, if she didn't make a sound no one came by to disturb her.

Once her hands were taken care of, it was time to start everywhere else. Toes, foot, ankle, then her calves. Nozomi stood up on her intangible legs and expected to fall on her face. Instead, she hovered like a ghost. Her intangible limbs stood a couple feet off the floor. She could feel or see them but felt them instead. Like phantom limbs moving her from the door to the other end of the room. She was silent. It took a split second for her legs to return to normal.

Kurogiri was the only person who could see her. He'd stopped by three times a day just make sure she ate and wasn't accidentally starved to death. She didn't know if her sisters instructed him to remember that she had _medicine _to take very night. Since he never asked about it, she believed he didn't know. That didn't mean she could simply not take out a pill. At least here she could throw in a bin or flush it down the toilet or sink without any questions asked. The pills needed to be the exact number needed to get her through a week in order to keep her sisters unaware. So far, she was nauseous most of the time and prone to headaches. Food seemed to help with those migraines. However, she had to be careful opening the door. When she practiced, she felt a trickle of blood seeping out of her nose. During the first day, Nozomi found a pattern of Kurogiri's arrival and departure and timed her practice perfectly so he would not see her bloody nose.

Now, she couldn't tell if the consistent bleeding was a result of using her quirk or if it was a side effect from the withdraw. In either case, Nozomi had plenty of time to wonder about that. She went to bed exhausted after practicing all day. Her body felt weightless and she pinched herself to make sure she hadn't accidentally turned intangible again. It would be beyond bad if her sisters' associates found out she could use a quirk.

* * *

_She was floating on top of an endless black sea. Ba-dum…ba-dum…ba-dum. Was she listening to the sound of her own heart beating or the rhythmic current carrying her to an unknown shore? Nozomi felt weightless and heavy at the same time; she couldn't move a limb even if she wanted to. _

_ There was no wind. No sound or sun. Blackness above and down below. With her, floating in between the dark sky and the darker sea. _

_ Until she was pulled under. Slimy tentacles snaked around her waist, arms, legs, and neck, creeping upon her in silence. She didn't have the chance to scream before she was yanked below the surface. _

_ Down. Down. Down. _

_ Sapped of her strength, Nozomi was pulled down without a fight. _

_ Down. _

_ At last, her body came to rest at the bottom of…something. She wasn't sure what, only that she rested on a solid surface. She sat up. Everything was still black. Slowly, she began to move, strength returning to her as on a whim. She stood up and began walking. The ground beneath her feet was cold and hard like marble tiles. She kept walking despite being unsure of where she was heading. Without light there was no discernable direction or location she could turn to. _

_ Ba-dum…_

_ Nozomi walked forever in the endless pit. Black walls turned to gray and then to white. The black floor remained the same, mile and miles of smooth black stone underneath her. Suddenly, she was in a round chamber. Its ceiling reached unknown heights. She tried to see how far it went but hurt her neck trying to crane it backwards to get a view. A small circle of light emitted from the window in the ceiling. Nozomi explored the strange room she found herself in. What was the harm? It was only a dream._

_ Doors of every kind lined the walls. Some small, some so large that they dwarfed her tiny, delicate frame. Ornate doors and doors with dents and ugly scratches. There were doors that had stained glass windows that reflected an inward light, casting rainbows on the floor beneath. Every shape and color and wood made. She saw how the wound all the way up to the ceiling. _

_ Picture frames on the walls lined the spaces in between the doors. Nozomi walked up to the nearest one. It was a portrait of a family, a happy pair of parents with their little girl. A girl with long black hair and red eyes. A wave of nausea washed over her as she stared at the picture. They…the parents, they seemed familiar, but she didn't know why. Their faces reminded her of some forgotten dream. _

_ The next painting was far less pleasant. It was the scene of a nightmare. A red room and the crumbled form of a man bathing in a pool of his own blood. Standing behind the corpse was a black figure in a blue mask. A long knife glinted like silver flecked with blood. _

_ Yet a third provided more questions than answers. Nozomi stared at what looked like a fair ground. Crowds of colorful gathered people. Couples, parents with their children, and clowns. A yellow carousel stood in the background. But the young woman appearing in the foreground as if heading towards the carousel caught Nozomi's attention. The young woman in the picture was not much older than what Nozomi was now; she appeared to be fifteen or sixteen. Freckled, tan, and nervous looking. Her black hair faded out into purple to accent her lavender eyes. In the portrait, it seemed that her eyes were glued to the carousel. Somehow, Nozomi had the feeling that it was _who_ was on the carousel the young woman was concerned about. _

_ Nozomi could not suppress the shudder rippling through her. In her dream, her body violently shivered the longer she looked at the picture with the girl staring at the carousel. She had to pull away quickly before she ended up having a seizure in her own dream. Without paying attention to where she was going, Nozomi rammed her shoulder into a near-by door. The wood groaned with her. Surprised, she fumbled to the ground, rubbing her arm. The door seemed to heave as if letting out a deep breath. _

_ She stared at the door now. It was a dream. What harm could come from a dream? Nozomi got back to her feet and turned to face the door directly. She stuck her hand out and grabbed the knob. It would not budge. She quickly went around the room. All the doors were locked. She tried as many doors she could get her hands on, even climbing and nearly falling to reach the ones higher on the walls. When she came back down again, Nozomi returned to the picture of the happy family. _

_ Who is that little girl, she wondered. _

_ 'Look at me,' said a voice behind her. _

_ Nozomi turned to find the same little girl from the photo standing on the other side of the room. Instead of wearing a baby-blue summer dress and a smile like in the photo, the girl wore a white and green kimono splattered with blood. It was on her face, in her hair, on her hands. Tears streamed down her cheeks and over the purple bruise under her left eye. The kimono was half-open from the waist up, allowing Nozomi a view of the blood that flowed down the girl's leg. _

_ A violent shudder seized her. She felt all her blood rush to her legs. _

_ 'Remember,' said the little girl. _

_ Familiar cherry-red eyes pleaded with her as the girl repeated it again and again. _

_ 'Remember what?' Nozomi shouted. _

_ The girl said nothing more and nothing else. She repeated 'remember' until Nozomi thought madness was a short plea away. The little girl stared at her with tears running down her face. The blood trickling down her leg landed on the floor between her bare feet. A heartbeat thundered overhead. _

_ She covered her ears to ease the pounding in her head. _

_ Ba-dum…ba-dum…ba-dum…_

_ 'Be quiet!' _

_ A man in his thirties appeared behind the little girl. His broad hands took her by her frail shoulders and squeezed. Nozomi's stomach lurched. The girl continued to look up at her, eyes screaming silently. _

_ 'Be a good girl. Won't you be a _good_ girl?' _

_ The man wasn't looking at the child. He was staring at Nozomi. Coal-black eyes pierced her through. Her heart launched itself into her throat where it got stuck. Sour bile then rose up to meet it. She backed up into the wall behind her. Picture frames clattered to the ground. Her knees became jelly. _

_ Blood streamed from his mouth and nose. The gaping wound in his chest continued to bleed through his grey kimono. _

_ 'Be…good'_

* * *

Nozomi woke up with a yelp and cold sweat running down her brow. Her nape was sticky with it. Bile rose in her throat for real this time. Her stomach lurched like she'd been kicked in the belly. Nausea tore through her and she was forced to fling the blankets away from her. She tore off to the bathroom. The lights flickered on as she threw the seat back. Nozomi knelt on the floor before emptying out her stomach contents into the bowl. She didn't know how long she was on the floor, but by the time she finished she was a shivering mess. Her hands could barely grip the toilet bowl and her arms were shaking violently. Her legs were of no use to her. Nozomi waited for only God knew how long until she could manage limping back to bed.

She fell face first into her pillow, not caring that she forgot to flush her vomit or turn off the bathroom light. Her eyes became heavy again. This time when she slept it was a dreamless slumber.

* * *

Izuku looked across the street. There was no sign of her. Nozomi had not appeared in the course of two days. She warned him that she was going away, but that didn't keep him from looking for a sign, in case she came to her senses and managed to run away from her awful half-sisters. What he didn't expect was the Smiling Hero herself to be parading up and down the street in front of UA.

Naturally, his first instinct was to ask for an autograph. Out of pure habit, he started to grab his pen. When he saw the serious look on Miss Joke's face, Izuku realized now wasn't the time to ask. He watched her as she paused in front of star-struck students. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but what it was the students gave her a confused look and a shake of their head. She must have been asking a question. Miss Joke moved through the crowd of students, declining autographs and picture left and right. Slowly, she made her way towards him.

"Hey, kid, can I ask you something?"

Izuku swallowed hard. He was facing the Smiling Hero without her smile; she must have been on a seriously high-pressure mission.

"Uh...uh, s-sure!"

"I'm looking for a girl. She's about your age. Long black hair, red eyes, pale and super thin. She wears the Kunimichi High uniform. I've been told she walks past this school a lot."

Izuku's chest started thumping.

"Is she in some sort of trouble?"

"There was an incident the other day. A group of girls from her school chased her down the street and pushed her into traffic…"

"Is she okay!" He didn't mean to yell, but he felt the blood run away from his face. Izuku panicked.

"I don't know. She fled the scene before I could get any information out of her. I was told that her uniform came from Kunimichi High, which isn't far from here. I wanted to get more information about her or see if anyone's noticed her. Do you know her?" Miss Joke asked more firmly.

"Isn't your campus all the way on the other side of town, Joke?"

Aizawa stumbled forward almost weighed down by his load of paperwork. He glanced from Izuku to Miss Joke, silently pondering the situation.

"I'm looking for a girl. Kunimichi High school student. She was nearly run over yesterday between her school and this one."

"Why don't you put in an anonymous tip line or talk to the local police?"

"Because if it was a simple car accident, I would, but based on her behavior I have reason to believe she's being abused at home. If I can just talk to her, maybe I can help her get out of her situation."

Izuku's face turned paler than before. If he wanted to hide the fact that he knew _exactly_ who Miss Joke was talking about, it was far too late. Aizawa shot him a look that pinned and rooted him to the spot.

"Do you know who she's talking about, Midoriya?"

In the long run, it would help Nozomi. But why did it feel like a betrayal? Was it because she wanted to continue gathering information about her sisters? Izuku briefly considered lying or dodge the question entirely. He wanted to be a hero, however, and heroes don't lie when they know someone's in danger. Nozomi was in a fragile state of health, physical and mental. She needed to get away from her sisters.

"I do. She's…a friend of mine that I've come to know recently. Her name is Nozomi Noguchi."

The emotion on Miss Joke's face was indiscernible. Could she be relieved that she found some information or was she more worried?

"Tell me everything you know," she said. "I need to find her right away."


	11. I dun goofed up

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the continuity of this particular story. And I realized sometime between going to bed and being half-asleep, I realized that I created a stupidly wonky timeline of events for this fiction. Sadly, because of these errors, I'm going to have to rewrite everything and almost start from scratch. There's a lot of bulk that I need to sort out and fix, along with characterization and whatnot. I'll probably have the prologue and first chapter posted either later tonight or in the next day or two. It's not like I'm going anywhere.

Things that WILL NOT CHANGE:

Main OC will still be Nozomi Noguchi

She will still have DID (dissociative identity disorder) and the alternate personality's name is still Akane

OC's family are still the Four Horsemen, Uji, Kiyohime, Oiwa, and Yurei and their quirks will remain the same

OC's love interest/crush will still be Tomiji (though I'm not sure how I'm going to squeeze him in there)

OC's father is still a villain by the name of Mr. Satan, whose civilian name is Hiei Akuma. He's still in prison and a very bad dude.

OC's general past will remain largely unchanged (memory problems, trauma, etc.)

Themes surrounding the chapter and overall story will remain the same. Themes of violence, domestic abuse, trauma, suicidal ideation, anxiety, and self-harm will remain unchanged. Plot devices including body horror, human decomposition, mental illness, torture, etc. will remain unchanged.

Content warnings featuring graphic or disturbing themes and plot devices will always be included.

The diary belonging to Nozomi's alternate personality, Akane, will remain a plot device.

Things that WILL CHANGE:

Timeline is moved back.

Story begins in middle school rather than jumping into high school (this is where I goofed big time).

Plot will more closely align with source material (mainly on the manga).

OC's quirk has been changed from 'copycat' to 'power absorption,' but will be discussed in story rather than in here.

As soon I can get the first chapter done and copied the other chapters to edit, I will remove this original 'Copycat' and post the new fiction shortly after. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.


	12. Moving

"Copycat" has been moved to my AO3 account (AliceRed1878). The story has been rewritten and has undergone a title change. If you look it up on AO3, you will find it under the new title "Horns." The contents will be much darker than what is allowed to be posted here on Fanfiction. Thank you for your support.

Signed, Alice


End file.
